Unknown
by CrownOfDasies
Summary: Sakumo would have never guessed that his mission would have come to a failure until a blond woman appears out of nowhere, inevitably saving Sakumo, his comrades, and Konoha in the process. Preventing a huge misconception, based on Sakumo, how will this blond woman change Konoha's destiny? FemNaru/Sakumo. Time Travel fic.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay! Another TimeTravel fic! Yeah, whatever, but basic info: This fic is a bit AU, so that means some things are different than the Naruto Canon, OOC, and some side pairings. Other than that, nothing else is different except that this is my plot. This is a weird pairing, but I hope you all will like it! Anyways, enjoy!**

**EDIT: New edit of this chapter completed in Monday, May 20, 2015.**

A sudden opening appeared, showing a cloudy sky. She felt wind coming through from it and shivered in a curious anticipation. The girl's teeth chattered as the wind felt icy on some parts of her exposed skin.

Then, with very little time to express her surprise, Naruto was suddenly thrown into the small portal. The woman tried to catch her breath as cold wind was blowing inside her mouth, irritatingly causing her throat to ache.

With little time to spare, Naruto was coming closer and closer into what looked like the top of a metal building from Naruto's perspective. Naruto did not have any time to react as she finally felt the fatigue of her travel, causing her to crash into the metal building, damaging it, and leaving a big impact.

The blond Jinchuuriki gasped air greedily despite the coldness. She fought the dizziness she was feeling that moment, going as far as to punch the solid concrete floor so that the pain would distract her from falling unconscious.

She winched when she felt bruises starting to form on her body. Kurama couldn't help her now, even if he wanted to. He used up too much of his chakra.

Naruto closed her eyes tightly, feeling a headache stab her head continuously. She opened her eyes and found little light from the ceiling from the hole she made.

She laid there for a minute, spacing out until voices were shouting from outside the metal building, finally alerting Naruto. She held in her gasp when the building's doors opened. The woman quickly hid her chakra signature and stayed beside a large wooden crate.

"What just happened!?" A man's voice shouted in disbelief.

"I don't know? Ya think it was a bomb?"

"A bomb!?" The first man still had an incredulous tone. "If it was a bomb... then- then we better take it out of here or else we're in big trouble!"

Crouching down on the floor, Naruto refrained herself from coughing from the debris still present in the building. She tried keeping her breath soundless, but with all her injuries and fatigue, Naruto couldn't help herself.

Her whole body shook in the dim building. Naruto could only make out small wooden crates with little characters on them. The woman removed fallen building materials off her and stood up, slowly and soundly walking up to and of the wooden crates. She focused her sight on the small characters presented on the crates, which spelled out, "Property of Iwa."

Naruto widened her eyes and held her breath. If this was really the past, then Naruto would be right in the middle of the Second Shinobi World War—at least, that was what Shikamaru calculated. She would be in major trouble if she were caught now.

She smelled the air as the debris settled down. The woman frowned and started to sniff the room once again. The air was caked with a familiar smell. The air smelled like explosive sheets, only stronger. Closing into a particularly larger-then-most crate, Naruto smelled it and flashed a look of agony. It smelled like gunpowder.

* * *

Sakumo was covered in sweat. He couldn't stop shaking as he was carrying his saved comrade on his shoulder. The silver-headed shinobi knew that his heart was racing not of the strenuous pace he was running at, but of how nervously he felt of his mission.

He knew that in his heart, he would inevitably fail this mission. As the leader of the group, Sakumo would hold all responsibility on his shoulders. The leader blew out a shaky breath, feeling how severely he was shaking at that point. He felt his back start to ache from the heavy weight he was heaving—an unconscious comrade.

By now, Sakumo and his team of four had been running for five days with little rest. There was an unsettling feeling in the team's atmosphere. Even with the saved comrade on his back, Sakumo felt paranoid for what was to come. He couldn't help but comprehend if this was the right thing to do.

Running through the forestry, he lost sight of Iwa's borders long ago. There was only two more days left until he reached Konoha—two more days until he would reach his consequences.

The few that were following closely behind him also had unsettling looks on their faces. Closing his eyes shut tightly, Sakumo could just feel the solemn atmosphere suffocating him. To put his mind to ease, Sakumo thought fondly of his son, Kakashi. Kakashi had made him promise to come back home safely, in which he was about to fulfill. At least for Sakumo, he didn't fight on the front lines, for if he did, he wouldn't be able to see Konoha or Kakashi until the war was over. After three weeks of not seeing him, Sakumo was going to come back home.

However, something inside him crept of the thought of what would happen in the future because of his failed mission. His paranoia got the best of him when he clearly remembered that the Sandaime did say that it was crucial to succeed. Glancing back at his team members, Sakumo sighed again as he remembered his mission that the Sandaime assigned to him as team leader.

_"Sakumo, there is a crucial mission that I have for you. I trust that you will not fail me because it will also inevitably fail our village." Hiruzen awaited for Sakumo's reaction—it was neutral. Hiruzen smiled, seeing that Sakumo was serious._

_"Yes, Hokage-sama. It would be an honor for me to complete this mission." Sakumo said steely. The silverheaded shinobi was one of the Sandaime's most trusted Shinobis._

_The old Sarutobi smiled pleasingly, "Yes, this mission is about infiltrating in Iwa's weapon, medical, and ration storehouses." He looked at Sakumo, who had an understanding face. "I see that you seem to get where I'm going."_

_"Even though we've already defeated Sunagakure and Amegakure, we still have one opponent—Iwagakure. Even though Iwagakure is one last opponent to defeat, they are tough and brutal. The only way to defeat them is to use the Anaconda Plan," the Sandaime added on._

_Sakumo spoke up, "So you want to slowly strangle Iwa by targeting their resources?" He smirked a bit, "However, the downside is, what if the mission is not completed correctly?"_

_Hiruzen looked deadly serious to Sakumo, "If the mission is not completed correctly, then the tide of the war will go to Iwa. Even if we do win the war, we, as a whole village, will suffer the consequences during and after the war. One last thing to add is that if we don't strike first, Iwa will get the chance to strike. If that happens, it'll take a miracle for us to win."_

_"But in the bright side, if you do successfully complete this mission, Iwa will completely surrender from this war and end it. That is our main goal. Remember to complete this mission no matter what," the Sandaime concluded._

_This had pressured Sakumo quite a bit. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Who'll be in my team."_

_Sakumo closed his eyes, his burden becoming heavier each time he though of his failure. Now, all there was left was to wait._

* * *

"Hurry! Hurry! Close the hole before any more water comes in! We can't let that touch the gunpowder!" A man in a loud voice commanded.

Naruto hid behind a crate as she felt rain seep through the hold she made previously. She knew what was going on. The noise going on from the outside of the building she was in, commanding voices, urgent cries of help, the aroma of blood and disinfection—she was inside Iwa's medical camps.

Iwa was sneaky to put their gunpowder and who-knows-what inside their medical camp. Putting their weapons inside something so vulnerable as a medical camp would only be idiotic, but by doing so, would be stupid enough to be unsuspecting. And, because the medical camp was on Iwa territory, it would only be suicidal for the one pursuing it.

The woman narrowed her eyes. The building from the inside was massive, holding as much as a hundred crates. She crouched down behind one of the bigger crates and took out a kunai when she heard the doors click open.

"What could've made that hole up there?" An unknown man questioned.

Naruto saw people's silhouettes run closer and closer to her, their shadows becoming smaller until Naruto could make out the people's faces. She squinted her eyes for their faces were disguised under darkness despite having a gaping hole providing light.

The woman completely masked her chakra, rubbing gunpowder on her clothes and exposed skin to hide her scent.

She gulped, quite worried about how she would deal with the Iwa nins because she had never faced Iwa as enemies in war back in her timeline.

Naruto breathed in and out meditatively and finally began to move from shadow to shadow, unaware to the offending ninja as she moved on their blindspots. She trudged forcibly throughout the building, painfully tolerating the deep pain on her legs and arms. She felt her bones stab her, as they were broken.

When limping closer and closer to what looked like the exit, all unnatural forces went against Naruto as she stepped on rotten floorboard.

"What's that?!" The man shouted from across the building, echoing loudly. "Didja guys hear that?"

The woman cursed. There was no way to get out of that place without getting caught, then killed in her state. Naruto had no choice, she had to choice but to use Kurama's chakra. Even though she was supposed to hide the fact that she jailed Kurama, she was driven to a corner.

"B-bijuu Mode!" She hesitated, quickly regretting her words when the Iwa nins spotted her and charged her with homicidal rage. Her golden clock was much much weaker considering that Kurama was now in a bind from the recent travel.

Naruto ran out of the building and widened her eyes. The medical camp was enormous! Swarms of people, both injured and well, stared at the woman in shock and in rage.

When the men who were in the building came out, they shouted, "Intruder! Intruder!"

Platoons among platoons charged at Naruto all because of that three syllable, but highly effective word. The woman felt her legs heal slower than normal. With all her might and willpower, she sprinted and recited blow after blow to the offending ninja.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto made one fifteen clones who acted upon quickly, charging at the offenders. Blow after blow, each Iwa-nin fell on the battle grounds. In a matter of minuets, some Iwa-nin were discarded while all the Naruto-clones disappeared.

Narrowing her eyes, the cloak of golden that coated her intimidated some of her offenders, but that didn't stop them from attacking. She shouted out, "Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken!"

A big black sphere, with four pointed edges, with the appearance similar to a shuriken, was thrown in a large area where most of the Iwa-nin populated. The powerful technique hit many people as well as the building Naruto had just come out from, causing it to blow up.

The Iwa-nin who escaped the blast looked almost starstruck at the large explosion that sounded by Naruto's blast.

An incoming explosive kunai hit the ground where Naruto was at, causing a destructive blow on Naruto. Brutally falling to the ground, Naruto had bloody burn marks all over her body. Almost seconds later, the wounds started to heal slowly, making the Iwa-nin's who were witnessing this happening grow even more weary to the mysterious blond.

Many shinobi surrounded Naruto, engulfing her completely until she was incapable to attack back.

Iwa shinobi called an attack on Naruto, "Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique!" The offensive technique was spread out from Naruto's hands to the soles of her feet, making her incapable to attack at any angle. The think layer of quicklime was then hardened when someone said, "Water Release: Water Trumpet!"

The water trumpet was shot out onto the quicklime, making it into a cement substance. Having Naruto immobile got the Iwa shinobi to attack her with their weapons and techniques. She stood there, immobile from the cement-like substance holding her down. If this carried, she wouldn't be able to escape even with her Bijuu Mode on.

Then, she closed her eyes meditatively. Staying still from any of the distracting and painful attacks, Naruto had an orange hue to her eyes. Although the Sage mode cannot aid her wounds, it served a part in behind a distraction to them.

In one blasted push, Naruto got out of her immobile barrier, widening the many eyes who witnessed this happening. One said, "That's impossible! Not just anyone can get out of the quicklime cement!"

Naruto smirked and got into her Frog Kata. The Iwa shinobi didn't see what was happening until it hit them—literally.

Unpredictable hits were sent by Naruto to the offending shinobi. The Iwa-nin couldn't get any hits towards Naruto due to her quick speed. And almost in an impossible rate, only a handful of shinobi were left to be defeated.

Naruto got her hand seals ready, "Sage Mode: Big Ball Rasenshuriken!" The huge ball was thrown off-key due to an enemy shinobi hitting her with a lethal technique, causing her to hit four more buildings.

There was only forty more seconds until Sage Mode completely wore off.

Breathing heavily, due to the strain she was beginning to feel, Naruto began to perform battle-hardened taiijutsu on her offenders. She had to quickly finish them off until her Sage Mode wore off.

Finally, before the time finished, Naruto finished them off. She could hear screaming inside the medical camp. The smell of blood hadn't lifted one bit, even smelling much more than before from obvious reasons. No one was coming before her to attack due to what they had just witnessed.

Many looked wearily at the woman, afraid that she would attack them. Naruto stared at the many injured and dead on the floor. One brave woman who was a medic nin stooped in front of her injured comrade in a protective stance.

Naruto looked away. She had already done her part. She wasn't going to continue on.

One seriously injured, but witnessing shinobi on Iwa's side looked upon the destruction that the mysterious, but impossibly powerful young lady, made. Struggling out of his hiding spot, he trudged to Iwa's mainland, aiming to be a messenger for the Tsuchikage.

* * *

Naruto breathed heavily as a pain in her left arm resounded. Trudging to a nearby rock, she quickly sat on it and took out a needle and ninja wire. Putting the ninja wire through the head of the needle, Naruto took the item and began to stitch the most lethal wound on her stomach. Blood was pouring out from it until Naruto completely closed it.

After she was done, she sat there, breathing heavily from the pain she was feeling. After her Sage Mode ended, the injuries she had started to gain feeling, leading up to where she was now when all her injuries were in full bloom.

She spit out mucous from her dehydrated mouth. Naruto then shot a mental link to Kurama, "Hey, are you still tired?"

**"What did you expect?" **The nine tailed fox growled out.

"Sorry, sorry. Are you okay though?"

**"Peachy."**

"Okay," Naruto said sarcastically. "If you're so peachy, can you tell me what timeline I'm in?"

**"No, I don't."**

"Re-really?" The woman said incredulously.

**"Yeah, yeah. Even if I was the one who provided the extra chakra needed for this almost impossible plan, I don't know what time we are in specifically." **He paused. **"Now, judging by the fight that just went on back there, this could either be during a war or otherwise."**

"Can you infer which war?" Naruto questioned.

**"This could either be the First, Second, or Third Great Shinobi War. I can't say for certain which one, though. Another thing to keep mind is to keep your status as a konoichi closed—the downside is for how long. Since you just about showed off all off your moves back there, it'll be a matter of time until everyone finds out—goodness you're a fool. If this happens, at least keep it a secret that you're from the future. Only change what is necessary to be changed, got it?"**

Naruto mentally nodded her head and sighed, "Sorry, but if I hadn't used my moves, I could've died, and this whole thing me and Shikamaru, Kaka-sensei, Sakura, Chouji, Ino, Hinata..." She trailed off, reciting one name after the other, feeling as if her heart was filled with lead.

**"Look, Naruto, you'll be fine."** Kurama placed his paw under his chin,** "You know where Konoha is from here, right? If you don't hurry up now, with those injuries and all, you're going to fall in unconscious soon. I can heal you right now."**

Naruto gave him a reassuring smiled, giving him her thanks. "Naw, it's fine, Kurama. I'll get there just in time. I hope I'll be welcomed." Kurama pitched in most of his chakra so that Naruto could travel back in time—he even went as far as to heal her during battle. That's why she was the only one who could do it.

**"I highly doubt that,"** the Bijuu inside Naruto stomach replied before falling back to sleep.

With that, Naruto trudged to where Konoha was at.

* * *

The messenger Iwa-nin exploded into the Tsuchikage's office, "Tsuchikage-sama!" He breathed out harshly.

An alarmed expression rang throughout Ōnoki's face, "What happened?"

"The warehouses—they're all destroyed!"

Ōnoki's face was disorientated, "What happened and who did this!?" He barked out with devastation written all over his face. He slapped his desk with the palms of his hands.

The messenger shinobi breathed out heavily, "It was impossible, but one person did all the damage—a blond woman with whisker marks on her face. She had orange attire and was brutally strong. "

Ōnoki nodded his head, now, taking out a scroll, and writing down the information. The messenger continued, "Only _one_ person, especially since she is just a _woman_, took down a whole platoon, Sir. But the most unbelievable thing about her was her abilities."

The Tsuchikage's face went blank when the messenger said that one woman took down a whole platoon of his army, "Continue," Ōnoki said as calmly as possible.

"She has two cloaks of some kind that radiated from her body, seemingly enhancing her skills. One was call Bijuu Mode while the other one was unknown to me."

"You said Bijuu Mode, right?" The Sandaime Tsuchikage said incredulously.

"Yes," the messenger said grimly after realizing what he just said. With widened eyes, the messenger said,"The woman even based attacks on the Bijuu, if that was even possible." The messenger was breathing a little more heavily, "She made another cloak that was red. Her eyes suddenly became orange, with rounded rectangles as pupils. If I heard right, she based these next attacks on something call Sage Mode? I think that is correct."

Ōnoki widened his eyes even further. The messenger saw this, and cursed, now knowing that it was something bad. The Tsuchikage breathed out, "Senjutsu."

The messenger decided not to question what the meaning of what Ōnoki just said. Ōnoki slowly stated, "Not even one of our warehouses are spared?" The shinobi answered negatively. The Tsuchikage narrowed his eyes, "So forty-two of my shinobi were wiped out by one woman? Are you sure she didn't have any sort of help?"

The messenger frowned, holding the wound on his left shoulder, "There was one incident before the woman attacked. It was The White Fang and his backups."

"The White Fang?" Ōnoki said with a frown.

The messenger shinobi nodded, "Yes, but, his ploy was unsuccessful after he chose to save a comrade than to finish his mission—the same ambition that the woman archived." He coughed up, tasting a little blood.

Ōnoki gave in to suspicion, "Do you think that she was their backup?"

"Maybe, but to send one woman into the battlefield, wouldn't that put too much faith in the woman? And anyways, wouldn't we have already known of the blond woman due to her power?"

"Yes, but that old monkey Sarutobi has something up his sleeve all the time—his trump card."

Ōnoki clenched his jaw and fisted his hands tightly, causing his nails to penetrate his skin with blood. "Leave me right now. Be sure to pay a visit to one of th med-tents."

The messenger shinobi bowed down to his leader, leaving from the door.

* * *

"Hokage-sama there is something important that you should know." Shiori, Hiruzen's secretary said as she came from his door. "A woman- oh Sakumo-san, please enter."

Sakumo breathed out lowly as he Stepped into the Hokage's office. The Sandaime looked anxiously to Sakumo. Sakumo kept on an stoic expression, "Hokage-sama, the mission... was not successful."

"WHAT!?" Hiruzen dropped to pipe from his mouth. He slammed the palms of his hands on the table loudly, almost cracking the table in half.

Shinobi bowed her head and whispered, "I will leave the two of you." She walked out the room.

Sakumo flinched a little bit, continuing on his mission report, "One of my comrades was captured by the Iwa-nin, so, I had to save him. This went with a stake though—to abort the mission and save a comrade or vice-versa." Sakumo clenched his jaw,"I chose to abort the mission."

"Do you know what this means, Sakumo?! It means that the tide of the war might go to Iwa by a 95% chance rate! As I said, it will take a huge miracle to save us. It is sure that they will strike back, maybe even with the same plan at mind! If they do that, then our supplies and food will be shortened greatly! Not only our people fighting in the war will be affected, but everyone who is a part of our village will face the consequences of your actions. Did I not tell you to complete this mission no matter what?" The Sandaime stated harshly.

Sakumo gulped heavily, "Yes, you did, Hokage-sama."

"Where are the rest?" Hiruzen questioned.

"I sent then home because I though it was necessary."

The Hokage glared at him. The old Sarutobi shook his head and was about to say something when the secretary, again, knocked in the door. Hiruzen sighed stressfully and asked, "What is it?"

"An urgent letter sent from Iwa's fastest hawk."

"From who?"

"The Tsuchikage."

Hiruzen palmed his face with his hands stressfully. "What bad timing," he cursed. Opening the letter he started to read:

_Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato; Hiruzen Sarutobi,_

_From the beginning of this war, I always knew that we would be the only two villages left to fight each other off. Knowing this, I have prepared my trump cards throughout the tide of this war. However, what you sent as your offender shocked me to the very core._

_You sent one woman who completely annihilated a full 42-person platoon of my shinobi._

_This was uncalled for. It's never been heard before. Were you trying to make fun of me by saying that one woman can defeat my army, calling my army weak?_

_Don't think that I'm surrendering soon just because your 'trump card' destroyed what left of supplies and rations we had left._

_Because of this, I have no choice but to back away from this war. Until then, Hiruzen._

_Tsuchikage of Iwagakure no Sato;_

_-Ōnoki_

When Hiruzen read the letter the first time, he couldn't believe what it was saying. He read it throughly another time and then read it a third time, but out loud this time so that Sakumo could hear. Iwa had just sent him their white flag.

Sakumo, almost shakily, stammered, "You sent for backups, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen shook his head frantically, "That's the thing that trips me. I didn't send for backups, Sakumo." He frowned, then called for his secretary.

His secretary came up from the door, "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I need you to find more information about this woman in this letter." He gave her the letter to read.

The secretary smiled, "I already have the information on the woman, Sir. Coincidentally, I was about to discuss these matters with you only until before Sakumo-san arrived."

The Hokage sighed and picked up his pipe in relief, "This is why I picked you to be my secretary, Shiori."

"It's my pleasure to learn about the latest news, Hokage-sama." Shiori said. She continued, "Throughout the past two days of the woman's discovery, it was said that she was amazingly powerful. From reliable sources, I found out that there was also rumor that she could use Bijuu power and use Senjutsu easily. It was unheard of, especially since there aren't many who knows and masters Senjutsu except Jiraiya-sama, but he's not a woman, and no one at all who knows how to use Bijuu power." Shiori nodded in approval, "A spectrum, to describe her."

The Hokage and Sakumo frowned, deep in thought. "Continue on, Shiori," Hiruzen said.

"Well, in terms of appearance, she has long blond hair, reaching all the way from her back, and the most relevant of all, she has whisker marks on the sides of her cheeks. Everything else about this woman is a mystery."

Hiruzen smiled kindly to her, "Thank you, Shiori, you may go back to your desk."

"My pleasure," she walked briskly to her desk.

Hiruzen lit his pipe again, seemingly to have calmed down a lot. Sakumo felt unburdened and thankful to that woman. The Sandaime put on a serious face and said, "That was our miracle. You're lucky, Sakumo. If this woman never have appeared, you would have been shamed." The aging leader looked sternly at the younger man, "Don't ever go against my command ever again, or else you will be wiped away from your title as shinobi. Let this be a lesson to you."

Sakumo nodded his head, Hiruzen continued, "You'll be restrained from shinobi duties for a whole month. But let me tell you this: if not for this war, it would've been longer, and maybe, you would've been striped from your title as shinobi, Sakumo." Hiruzen sighed through his pipe, fluttering the air with smoke. "You will also not get paid for this mission. By then, do something productive to make up for this mission. Dismissed," he informed in a cold tone.

Sakumo saluted to his Hokage and shunshied to his home, feeling as though the Sandaime's words impale him with ice, cold spears.

He groaned and leaned against the Hokage Tower's exterior walls while rubbing his face in stess. He cursed to himself and swore that if he ever met that woman, he would kiss her for all she was worth.

"Kami, I messed up real bad." He thought out loud. Sighing one more time, Sakumo turned his heel and finally go home, where he could finally meet that end of his promise with Kakashi.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so I tried researching online, but it didn't say anywhere in Naruto about Sakumo's mission. So this one is made up, okay? Don't take it to heart. I hope you all enjoyed this start and I hope you guys will continue to read more. Thank you all for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N: Guys, guess what? I have a beta reader, and they're so awesome! Their pen name is White Ink Penpal; go check them out.)**

Five-year-old Kakashi Hatake chewed on the inside of his cheek. Even though he was a shinobi genius, he was still a child—a very bored child at that. Kakashi saw his old, gossipy babysitter, sitting with another old, gossipy woman gossiping about the latest news to each other.

"Did you hear about Iwa's problem a couple days back?" the babysitter asked in a hushed tone.

"What happened?" the old woman said.

"Well," the babysitter glanced at Kakashi and back, "I heard that there was a mishap with one of Konoha's team—that being the one that Sakumo-sama lead." The babysitter glanced back at Kakashi, thinking that he was oblivious to their conversation.

Kakashi knitted his eyebrows together, heftily worried about his father. Taking the alphabet blocks around him, he pretended to play and be interested in them. Listening in on the ladies' discussion, Kakashi looked as if he was centered on the blocks.

"I heard from the other ladies that Sakumo-sama had failed an important mission that was vital for this war," Kakashi's babysitter whispered soundly. With his shinobi training, Kakashi was able to hear the news.

The woman next to his sitter frowned. "Sakumo-san failed a mission vital to Konoha's side of war? How did you find out?"

"I know people. But, back to the point, I also heard something about this mysterious blond woman who took on a—I think—forty-two-person army. She actually won out of all of them. However, I don't know why she did it," Kakashi's baby sitter said eagerly.

"_Forty-two!? _That's practically impossible by yourself!"

"Yes, that's what I thought about too. But, back to Sakumo-sama's situation. I heard that the mission was top secret, but very important to Konoha. I don't know what will happen in the future."

The other lady said, "If it's that important to Konoha, then does that mean...about the war?" she asked uneasily.

The babysitter knitted her eyebrows worriedly. "More importantly, what will happen to us?"

Both women sat in an awkward silence until the baby sitter said, "Why don't we talk about Nali-chan and Sato-kun's relationship status?" she said excitedly.

The other woman squealed like a schoolgirl. "Just wait, it'll be a matter of time until they both get married."

"Awww, married life, it's the best—until twenty years of living with the same person." The sitter sighed as she thought of her own lazy bum. They both laughed together.

Kakashi stared at his blocks blankly, almost as if his own world shattered apart. His dad's mission was unsuccessful? Did that mean that he di- no he couldn't think for the worst. Almost in the verge of tears, Kakashi rubbed his eyes while thinking about the shinobi rules—a shinobi can never show emotions.

Biting his lip, the five-year-old went to the bathroom to reflect on his thoughts. Walking towards the bathroom entrance, Kakashi felt a familiar chakra signature. Smiling widely, he ran to his doorway and opened it, to jump up and hug the familiar presence.

Sakumo was in for a surprise when his normally unemotional son jumped up to him and hugging him worriedly. The impact was so sudden, that Sakumo actually fell back while still holding Kakashi. Kakashi, on the other hand, looked at Sakumo with worried eyes.

"I told you to come home safely!" he said in a childish worry.

Sakumo laughed out loud. "I am safe, Kashi-chan! Don't you see me? My limbs are still intact.", he said, shaking his arms.

Kakashi was still fretting. "Yes, but I heard something went wrong in your mission!"

Sakumo raised a silver brow. "Where'd you hear that from."

"The old gossipy women."

Sakumo frowned. "Sheesh, news travels fast." With a smile on his face, Sakumo patted his son's head. "Don't worry, my mission was both unsuccessful, but successful at the same time. Everything will be okay for everyone. That includes your dad, yourself, and everyone in Konoha."

It was Kakashi's turn to raise a silver brow. "Then how'd you fail it?"

Sakumo answered, "The mission and it's information stays confidential." He smiled again and patted his head. "Why don't we go get that ice cream that you've been wanting. Was it...the triple caramel-triple scooped su-"

"Nu-uh, Dad! That's what you wanted. I said I wanted to get red bean dango."

"Too bad, Boy. My money, my way," he replied with a silly grin.

Kakashi grumbled under his breath, but smiled because his dad was really-really safe.

Walking out, not before dismissing the babysitter, Sakumo and Kakashi went out to buy two triple caramel-triple scooped-triple banana split sundaes.

* * *

_Nine days later_

"Gosh! Why'd I have to be so freakin careless!" Naruto cursed as she trudged and found Fire's borders. It has already been eleven days since Naruto's departure from Iwa, only finding transportation in walking.

"And my legs even hurt from walking in the stupid sand, stupid mud, stupid water, stupid everything!" she continued moodily. Over this timespan, Naruto only ate three meals and drank every other day to averagely sustain herself.

Walking over to a bush wretchedly, Naruto went out to do her business. Thinking about all the possibilities, Naruto thought, _'Better not be on my freaking period or else all hell will break loose!' _Ever since Kurama has been on sleep mode, Naruto has been sustaining the fatigue of maintaining her wounds—especially since she still had the small bit of poison lurking insidiously in her bloodstream.

She checked herself and almost fell on her own urine. She just had to get her period on the same time she was struggling to get back to her home. "Good thing Hinata-chan, Tenten, Sakura-chan, and Ino got me my womanly needs and toiletries. I will thank you all forever!", she said loudly. Sighing to herself, a deep hole in her heart dug as she truly did miss her past (or was it future?) friends.

Finally finishing her business, Naruto estimated about a five hour walk until she reached Konoha's borders. Having the last bit of strength, Naruto decided that she wanted to run to cut the time into a third.

Gritting her teeth from panting too hard, Naruto still had two hours to run. Reminiscing about the future as she looked around the familiar surroundings, Naruto's lungs burned from breathing out too harshly._ 'What time period am I even at?'_

She remembered at what she had done in the past couple of days with a cringe. "Freak. I'm gonna get in so much trouble!", Naruto shouted out as she worried about her mishap in Iwa. She stopped her run and crouched in frustration on the floor with her hands on her head. Naruto's face became disorientated when a flood of ovary blood washed down. Crying in horrible distress, her day had just gotten twenty times worse.

"Goodness gracious.", she said softly, walking very cautiously to another bush.

* * *

_Three hours later_

"Ho-Hokage-sama! I feel a very large and powerful chakra signature!" the head sensor exclaimed. While still holding the sensor barrier together, the head sensor felt the approaching chakra signature stop. "The signature stopped, my Lord."

The Sandaime, though notified, was still confused. "Why would they stop? Do you think it's a large group of people?" he asked anxiously.

The Head sensor shook his head. "The weird thing is that it's only one person. I wouldn't know why they stopped though. What are your orders, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen thought quietly to himself before ordering, "Go with a group of eight with Sakumo as head."

"Wait, but I thought that he was in shinobi restrictions? Wouldn't that mean..."

"How would you know that?" Hiruzen asked the head sensor slowly. The sensors face washed out all blood as he apologized. Hiruzen continued, "Today's an exception. I feel nervous about this situation and I trust that this time Sakumo will listen to my exact orders. Get him and seven others. Tell Sakumo, the team leader, to investigate the source. In the worst case scenario, if they are a big threat, tell him to eliminate them."

By the time the team of eight were set up, Sakumo said his goodbyes to Kakashi.

"You better come back home safely, okay?"

Sakumo smiled to his son and agreed with him. "Wait, let me call the babysitter first."

Kakashi crossed his arms and whined, "But I don't need one, Dad!"

Sakumo chuckled and ruffled his hair. "You're only five, Kashi-chan. Later when you're at least this high," he said while measuring his hand to his waist.

Kakashi turned away. "But that'll be in a lotta years!" Sakumo graced him with another ruffle to his hair.

When Sakumo finished and when the sitter arrived, Sakumo said his goodbyes, assuaged his son's worries, and left for his mission.

* * *

With his team, Sakumo arrived to the destined area in record time. Frowning, Sakumo didn't need to use his wolves to track the scent or chakra of the person. He narrowed his eyes as he felt the large and strange chakra and oddly enough—the menstrual flow.

Sakumo signaled his team where the suspicious ninja was at. Closing in secretly on the mysterious person, Sakumo silently surrounded the woman.

"It's a woman?" one asked.

"Yeah, that was a shocker."

She was tangled in the floor, in an unconscious form. Sakumo took lead and went directly to the blond. "She seems to have been unconscious for about and hour of so." Sakumo analyzed her body, noting the wounds with a frown. "She's injured. Probably withstanding her injuries for a long time—maybe a week or more."

A shinobi came up to Sakumo. "Sakumo-san, do you think she's a konoichi?"

"Maybe, considering the fact that she has large chakra reserves. She must be trained well."

Another questioned, "Do ya think she's from the Iwa-scum?"

Sakumo narrowed his eyes and looked at the shinobi in uncertainty. "That's the thing that makes me wonder. Why would she come to Fire's borders where she could easily be killed? Especially at the time of war?"

"Why don't we bring her back as prisoner to Konoha. Hokage-sama will know what to do with her," one said.

Sakumo nodded and told one to restrain her. They carried her and headed towards Konoha.

Closing in on the large green gates that held do the entrance of Konoha, the team went to confirm themselves to the gate guards.

"Hatake Sakumo with team and prisoner," Sakumo announced. The gate guards confirmed and let them in. Soon after, the team filed in their mission report.

"Hatake-san, the Hokage wants to see you. He also said to bring in the prisoner," the secretary said.

Sakumo nodded and entered the Hokage's office. Hiruzen saw the prisoner and had a questioning look on his face. "Sakumo, tell me about the mission."

"Hokage-sama. The mission was successful. Out in the eastern side of Konoha's borders, this female was out unconscious. She had an overwhelming amount of chakra, enough for even a person who isn't a chakra sensor to feel. I assumed that she was the person who we were looking for."

Hiruzen nodded. "So, does she seem like a threat?"

Sakumo stated, "I'm not sure, Hokage-sama. But, isn't it unusual to find someone out in out borders on this time during war? It's likely she might be an incoming enemy spy, but she could also be otherwise."

The Sandaime narrowed his eyes,"Take her to the T&amp;I. Stay in on the interrogation, Sakumo. And if she doesn't give any answers, then tell one of the torturers to make her give us some answers."

Sakumo nodded and headed out to the T&amp;I department with the woman.

* * *

Naruto felt the cool splash of water splash on to her as she laid on the dirty, stony floor of the T&amp;I department. She woke up with a harsh shiver, eyes opened widely to see two people in front of her.

"Tozoki-san, she's awake now," Sakumo said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know Sakumo," Tozoki said.

Naruto gasped as she felt shackles on her arms and legs. "Wh-what are you do-doing?" Naruto asked in an inaudible whisper.

Tozoki raised an eyebrow. "Hah? Whadya say, Missy?"

Naruto looked around and frowned when she remembered this familiar place. She bit her chapped lips and repeated more confidently, "What are you doing?"

Tozoki glared at her, but calmed himself when he remembered that this was only supposed to be and interrogation. "I'm going to interrogate you, Missy. If you answer all of my questions correctly, then I'll let you go out without any broken bones, ya hear? But, if ya don't answer any of my questions right off bat, then you might not be able to even get out at all."

Naruto shivers at his cold tone and the water that was splashed on her. Tozoki continued, "And don't be thinkin' that I'll be going easy on ya cause you're a girl, ya hear?"

Sakumo sighed wearily, as he was one that didn't really enjoy seeing what goes on in the T&amp;I department. Naruto gritted her teeth as she sat up on the floor. '_I was worried this was gonna happen.' _She took on a more calm stature while ignoring the pain that was coursing inside her body.

Sakumo looked at Tozoki as he turned on the small light that was pointing at Naruto. "Please get this done quickly, Tozoki-san."

"I know, Sakumo."

Sakumo saw Tozoki and smirked when he saw that he held a small knife in his hand just to scare the suspect a bit. Tozoki threateningly pointed the knife towards Naruto and asked, "Name?"

Naruto shivered from the cold water again. "Naruto."

Sakumo frowned. _'Why does that name sound so familiar?'_

Tozoki glared at her and demanded in a more menacing tone, "_Full_ name."

Naruto stuck her tongue out to him. "Your fault for not saying it specifically." In her mind, Naruto panicked. _'Arrggg! Name, Name, Name-'_

"Do you think I'm joking, little girl?" He proved his words to be true as he took out a kunai and threw it towards Naruto, cutting her cheek a little bit.

Naruto widened her eyes as her heartbeat quickened. "Don't have a surname cause my parents never named me. I never did see the point in having a last name, so I never gave myself one, dattebayo."

Sakumo raised a silver brow and walked into the light. Naruto took sight in him and widened her eyes slightly. '_Kakashi- no. This is the past.'_

Tozoki smirked, but accepted her answer. "Fine then, _Naruto_. Your age?"

"Twenty." She then continued, "Height: 166 cm; weight: 45.4 kg."

Tozoki smirked at her attitude. "So, you're familiar of what goes around in here, huh?"

Naruto bit her lip while cursing in her head. "Nope. It's just that when asking about someone's numbers, isn't it only predictable what you're gonna ask next, dattebayo?"

Sakumo smirked at her attitude as Tozoki growled out in her cocky tone. "Don't play with me, Girly." He then put on a serious face once things proved to not be going as he expected."Now for the harder questions. What were you doing in Konoha's borders?"

Naruto gritted her teeth tightly together. "I-I needed refuge. My small village was destroyed by this war! I needed to get to safety in order to stay alive!"

Tozoki narrowed his eyes. "You sure you're not from Iwa-"

Then, it hit Sakumo like a ton of bricks. "Naruto. Your name is Naruto, right?"

Naruto looked at Sakumo. "Yes, why?"

Sakumo narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Why were you at Iwa a couple days back? And why did you attack them?"

Naruto widened her eyes. "How-how do you know I was at Iwa?!"

Tozoki looked at Sakumo with widened eyes, then at Naruto. "You... You were the person that destroyed the platoon?"

Sakumo sighed. "News does travel quickly around this place."

Naruto looked distressed. _'Gosh! Kurama was right.'_ She bit her lip again and stayed quiet.

Tozoki interrogated, "Why did you attack them?" He got closer to her and pressed the bladed side of his knife on her throat.

Naruto had to tell them if she wanted to live. "I-it was an accident. I mean, I kinda crashed into their big buildings, in which destroying the building and everything inside it. And then, things got real from that point on! All these Iwa-nins began to attack me, and then I started to blow attacks on them, but missed, in which causing more of these buildings to be destroyed. And, I guess that riled them up more?"

Sakumo sighed. '_Those attacks must've been very lethal to destroy one of those huge warehouses, then.'_

Tozoki spluttered, "_Accident_?" He then narrowed his eyes at the blonde and bit out, "Then does that mean that you've come to Konoha to 'accidentally' attack it?"

Naruto stayed calm, unwilling to let the man get a rise out of her. "No. I _already_ told you I needed a refuge for my wounds."

Sakumo cut in when Tozoki was about pierce Naruto. "Tozoki," he said with a firm tone, "she's not lying. You should know this than most—her heartbeat isn't quickening." Tozoki breathed in harshly as Naruto's skin was slightly cut, drawing out a little blood.

Naruto sighed in relief as she gave Sakumo a thankful look. Sakumo replied with a glare. Naruto was about to growl when Tozoki said, "Girly, I'll need to ask ya one more question." He looked her in the eye. "Are you sure you're not gonna attack Konoha?"

Naruto swallowed her mucous. "I'm positive. Believe it," she said with a determined look on her face.

Tozoki looked at her eyes one more time with a smirk on his face. "Fine, kiddo." He then turned off the lights and took Sakumo to follow him out at he shut the door, leaving Naruto alone in the darkness.

Naruto's blood boiled as her screams resonated from the door. "I'm not a 'kiddo'! I'm twenty-years-old!"

* * *

Sakumo bowed down to the Hokage, showing a sign of respect. "Hokage-sama, the prisoner had no plans for attacking or harming Konoha in any way. She actually was seeking for refuge for her wounds and I guess a place to stay because her last village was destroyed by this war."

Hiruzen looked at Sakumo and gave him a sign to rise. "Then how were these wounds caused."

Sakumo frowned. "I assume it was from what happened from Iwa last time."

Hiruzen knitted his eyebrows together. "From_ Iwa_!? You let someone from Iwa make you believe that she isn't going to attack Konoha?!"

Sakumo shook his head. "You didn't let me finish, Sandaime-sama. The girl's name is _Naruto_—and she's _not_ from Iwa. She lived in a small village that was ravaged by this war."

The Sandaime widened his eyes at the proclamation. "Naruto? As in the Naruto who destroyed those warehouses? What's her surname?"

Sakumo answered, "Yes, that Naruto. And she doesn't have a surname—she just goes by as Naruto. I don't really think she's lying because she had answered most of the questions smoothly without any torture." Sakumo didn't count the part when Tozoki placed the kunai to her throat.

Hiruzen sighed. "I'll look into this more later. Sakumo, thank you for your service, but I'm excluding your payment because of last time's incident."

Sakumo bowed down to his leader. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

**(A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter.)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late chapter, but I hope all is well. Hope y'all enjoy this chapter. Bless.)**

The next morning Hiruzen walked out from his office, waving back at those who greeted him. He breathed in the morning air, sighing ever so often while massaging the visible bags under his eyes.

He walked towards the T&amp;I department while thinking about his day's schedule. "First, go to the T&amp;I department and personally interrogate the prisoner from yesterday. Second, go to an all-council meeting and talk about how Konoha should be provided with things we don't practically need. Then, later on, go through with commanding the war." He dipped his head down, agonizing to himself about his restlessness.

Walking to cell block seven, Hiruzen unlocked the block cell and prepared for the worst. Switching on the light, he widened his eyes when he saw the suspect sweating all over her body. "Get a medic NOW!" he yelled to a nearby interrogator.

Hiruzen kneeled down to Naruto and asked,"What's wrong? I thought Sakumo told me that the interrogation went by smoothly?" Naruto opened her blue orbs, revealing bloodshot eyes, looking straight to Hiruzen's brown orbs. "You didn't sleep at all, didn't you?"

Naruto squeezed her eyes shut. A medic finally came in and analyzed Naruto. He coated his hands in medic chakra and found the problem almost instantly. "She's been poisoned." The medic narrowed his eyes as he also revealed, "The poison's been lurking in her bloodstream for quite some time. Maybe two weeks at most. She should've been dead by now."

By now, Naruto was breathing harshly. "Poisoned... in-in Iwa."

Hiruzen nodded at her explanation. He then told the medic, "It can't be helped, get her to the hospital."

Naruto was rushed to the hospital. When she got there, everything faded into nothingness, leaving Naruto into the deep passageway of her mind scape.

* * *

Kurama shifted his neck to the opposite direction as he felt a familiar chakra signature. He twitched his left ear to hear the footsteps emerge the water that flooded the entire floor. He slowly lifted his right eyelid, seeing his jinchuuriki walking closer to his cage.

**"What do you need now, Kit?"** He waited for an answer, but didn't get one.

Kurama narrowed his eyes as he lifted his head to directly look at Naruto. She was in a hospital gown, looking like a hot mess. He sighed deeply, now knowing exactly what was wrong with her. He felt the insidious poison lurk through her body.

If not for the many times she had been made a suspect to this poison during the Fourth War—in which she is immune to until an extended period of time—she would've died after the fourth day without his healing chakra.

Kurama stretched his body as he got up to send his chakra coursing into Naruto, causing the poison to clear up. After several minuets, Naruto woke up from her sick trance and widened her eyes at the now awakened Kurama.

"Kurama! What are you doing here?"

Kurama sighed deeply and shook his head. **"Brat, you're in your mind scape."**

"Wha? How'd I get here then?"

Kurama answered negatively and looked at Naruto's set of clothes. **"You, are you in Konoha yet?"**

Naruto scratched the back of her neck and said, "Well, it wasn't a really fun trip, but when I got here, I get interrogated by this crazy dude. He was also mean."

Kurama sighed a third time that day. **"It's bound to happen."** Kurama shifted his weight to the side. **"So what did they ask you, Kit?"**

Naruto told Kurama of all the questions Tozoki asked her and her answers to those questions. Kurama nodded his head in approval. **"Good job on your background story the other day. The only thing we need to do now is get their trust." **Kurama then had a thoughtful look on his face. **"Do you know what time period we're in, Kit?"**

Naruto frowned. "Not exactly, but I know we're in a war right now."

**"Fine, then do did you see any familiar faces?"**

Naruto thought for a moment before opening her mouth. "Was it?... No, I think his name was Sakumo? But, he kinda looked like Kakashi-sensei. There was also this-"

Kurama had a knowing look and interrupted her. **"Ahh, Hatake Sakumo. That's your sensei's father, actually. But, if he's still alive and well in this time period, then that probably means that we're in the Second Great Shinobi War."**

"The Second? Wait, but I don't know anything about this war."

**"Then you should've listened to your academy lessons, Gaki."**

Naruto growled out low in her throat. "Shuddup! Iruka-sensei makes every lesson boring. I just can't help not listening."

Kurama ignored her rant. **"We're getting off topic. About this war, didn't your other insignificant peers give you a timeline from the founding of Konoha?"** Kurama cocked his head to the side to crack it with a delightful snap. **"Check it out. Just find out the dates of significant times and try to change them for the better."**

Naruto frowned at Kurama. "My friends aren't insignificant," she said with a pout.

Kurama ignored her again. **"The scrolls are sealed in your forearms and legs. They also made you seal your daily needs and money."** He thought for a moment. **"Maybe your friends aren't ****_so _****insignificant," **he admitted grudgingly.

Naruto stuck her tongue out to him. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She raked her fingers through her long blond hair, untangling some strands. "I just wish at least Shika came with me. He would've known what to do." She sighed with the thought of her friend.

**"Kit,"** Kurama said in a more leveled voice, **"keep your emotions in check. You can't let anyone know that your from the future just yet."**Naruto nodded to Kurama but he continued, **"Also, don't let anyone find out that you're a Jinchuuriki—even that old monkey,"** Kurama stated.

Naruto had widened eyes. "Jiji's alive," she whispered in awe.

**"Remember, Kit—keep your emotions in check."**

"I know, I know. It's just that I never got to say goodbye to him before, ya know."

Kurama smirked. **"The perks of time travel."**

Naruto then frowned. "Yeah, but he doesn't even know me. He probably even thinks that I'm the enemy."

**"That's why you have to get their trust—you do know that you have a way with people."**

Naruto raised a golden brow. "Huh? What do you mean, dattebayo?"

Kurama shook his head. **"Never mind." **He shifted to the side and mentally pushed Naruto out of her own mind scape. Her protests were ignored as Kurama laid his head on his paws. **"Just don't cause any more problems in the future, Gaki—you do have a way with causing ruckus." **Those were his last words to her as he dropped his eyes into a small nap.

* * *

With a rush, Naruto gasped in air as she sat up abruptly. Seemingly as if she was just plunged into water, she greedily sucked in the air around her.

Hiruzen widened his eyes at the sudden movement and turned around to see Naruto. "Naruto-san, was it?" he asked slowly.

Naruto didn't hear him as she was looking around at her surroundings wearily. She looked at her now pristine hands and saw that the rest of her body was clean. The blood that caked her hair was no longer there, but, instead, was replaced by the sweet scent of various flowers.

Realizing that someone cleaned her, Naruto finally caught sight of a younger version of her Jiji. She almost had a shocked look, but it was covered up by the years of shinobi training. She finally calmed down and rubbed her eyes to throw out the sleepy haze.

Hiruzen just gave her a neutral look. He interrupted her actions when he repeated, "Naruto-san, was it?" He took her silence as approval. She blinked several times as she tried to calm herself down. Hiruzen continued, "I have a few questions to ask you, Naruto-san."

Naruto frowned a little before nodding her head. "S-sure, what is it?" She mentally cursed herself at her hesitation in her sentence. '_Darn, emotions in check...'_ she repeated to herself.

"Since you seem up and ready, I assume you're fine now. Am I wrong?"

Naruto shook her head.

Hiruzen ventured, "Well then, you'll be checked out in an hour. In the meantime, I'm going to ask you some questions."

Naruto nodded.

"Firstly, I want to know what village you were originally from."

Naruto stopped herself from widening her eyes as she slowly said, "Does that really matter?"

Hiruzen had a deep frown etched on his face as he leaked a small amount of killer intent. "Of course it is. Being that we're obviously in a war right now, I, as the Hokage, can't trust so easily—especially to those who came to my village as a _prisoner_."

Naruto widened her eyes at the sheer feeling of the killer intent engulf her being. The feeling was unknown to her, as the Sandaime that she knew was more of a loving grandfather figure to her. She sucked in a deep breath,"I'm from one of the smaller hidden villages near Ame's borders. Like many of the other smaller hidden villages near Ame, we were named similarly—Rain."

Naruto sighed in relief as she thought, _'Good thing I at least remembered this lesson from Iruka-sensei.'_ She paused for a moment and continued,"Also, indifferently, my village was thrown with the rest of the other villages in or around Ame. Of course you would know this, Sandaime-sama–," those words felt foreign to her "–because Ame was just a battleground for all the rest of the other warring hidden villages."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes dangerously slow. "And what are you implying by that?"

Naruto caught her mistake. "I'm sorry if I offended you, Sandaime-sama. I just meant how my village was destroyed. Nothing else."

Hiruzen's eyes softened. "Okay then, why did you seek refuge in Konoha?"

Naruto analyzed the room she was in when she answered, "Actually, I would've just found refuge in any village. But, you know, that incident in Iwa would've never given me any access to their hospitality."

Hiruzen nodded in understanding. "I heard from Sakumo on why you attacked them." The Hokage hat on his head was positioned more comfortably now after messing with it. "I heard that you possess quite the jutsu."

Naruto's frown etched her face deeply. "My... jutsus?"

"Exactly the ones you're thinking about now, Naruto-san."

Naruto cursed in her head, but slowly explained, "Do you mean my Bijuu based jutsu?"

"And Senjutsu."

Naruto bit her lip, but then quickly thought up an explanation. "My Bijuu chakra are in the same case of Ginkaku and Kinkaku."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. "You were going to capture a Chakra Beast?"

Naruto shook her head as she stated, "No, no, no, many years ago." She bit her lip again before she added quickly, "When I was younger, I was also an orphan with nothing whatsoever. I was hungry and desperate for any food. So, of course, when I saw a huge carcass on the ground, I ate it. I didn't even know what type of meat it was, but I just ate it raw." Naruto sighed disgustedly at her fake, but nasty, story. She thought of Bee and his sealing process and continued in a convincing tone, "What I didn't know was that the meat was actually one of the horns of the Hachibi."

Hiruzen widened his eyes. "The Hachibi? Then doesn't that mean that you're a Jinchuuriki?"

Naruto shook her head weakly. "Not _exactly_. I just have a tiny bit of the bijuu's chakra."

Hirizen had crease marks on his forehead. "What about your Senjutsu?"

Naruto sighed deeply, but then said, "I had a sensei. He was one of the elders inside my summoning contract. That's all I can say. I can't speak of the secrets of Senjutsu or my teacher and who I'm contracted to," she half lied.

Hiruzen sighed as he wasn't fulfilled with a full answer, but he accepted her response. "With the Bijuu chakra, is that how you heal very quickly?" Naruto nodded her head and stretched her back. "Then why didn't your Bijuu chakra heal you some time ago?"

Naruto bit her lip again. "Umm, that's because I overused it when I was at Iwa."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes a bit. "I think that'll be all for now." He looked at the clock and then at Naruto. "If you aren't in any pain whatsoever, let's get back to the T&amp;I department."

Naruto sighed wearily as her own darks bags were visible. She got out of the warm bed and looked outside the window her room presented. It was about the ending of the morning time, showing a sign of noon breaking. Her stomach growled as she thought about lunch, but blanketed all ideas of food when she remembered that she was still a prisoner.

Hiruzen and Naruto reached their destination. Inside the T&amp;I department, the same interrogator that interrogated Naruto the day before bowed down to the Hokage. Naruto narrowed his eyes at him, which was returned with a glare by Tozoki.

The Sandaime gave Naruto to Tozoki, showing a sign that she was supposed to be locked up again for the time being. Naruto pouted mentally as she hated the cold loneliness she felt inside the enclosed area.

Tozoki handled her a little more gently then the day before, putting her into cell block 7 once again. Naruto stood inside the bars like a caged animal. Tozoki returned to his Hokage's side as they began to talk.

Naruto couldn't hear a word they were saying. After a few more minutes, she gave up and slumped her back to the cell wall.

* * *

"I don't know about this one, Tozoki," the Sandaime said.

Tozoki replied, "Did you find any holes to her answers?"

Hiruzen shook his head, thinking about her Bijuu chakra._ 'There had been a time in Kumo that happened to make her statement about her chakra true.'_ Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, thinking more deeply, _'Kumo was going to replace their Jinchuuriki. In order for that to be fulfilled, they had to ensnare the Hachibi. Things could've gotten out of hand from there...'_

Tozoki broke Hiruzen's silence by asking, "Was there anything in particular that seemed a little off?"

"Not exactly. It's just that this tiny girl can contain such a prowess of abilities in her, it almost seems unbelievable." Tozoki raised a brown eyebrow, but kept silent. The Sandaime continued, "For me, I didn't sense any maliciousness in that girl. However, I can't say for certain if I can't trust her eventually."

Tozoki nodded slightly. "I can probably agree with ya, Hokage-sama. Yesterday, on her interrogation, I felt the same way you did when I asked her directly if she was going to harm Konoha in the littlest possible way." Tozoki paused for a moment,"Of course she denied, and I don't know, but, the way she answered was unbelievably believable."

Hiruzen chuckled a bit. Tozoki ran his fingers through his brunet hair. "Yes, but what do we do with her?"

The Sandaime was quiet for a moment before answering, "Maybe she can find refuge here in Konoha._ Maybe_. But only of we find her trustworthy enough."

"Yeah, but how can we find her trusteorthy?"

"The Uchiha Police Force."

"The Uchiha Police Force?" he asked with a frown. "How could they help?"

Hiruzen sighed. "They could do something sort of like spying on her." He whispered, "They could report all the days activities she had done. And if they aren't anything suspicious, then maybe we can let her reside here in Konoha. This assignment might go on for three months at least."

Tozoki nodded understandingly. "I see now, Hokage-sama. Does that assignment start now for them? I can inform the police force for ya if ya want."

Hiruzen nodded."I would very much appreciate that, Tozoki."

Tozoki smirked and said before leaving, "I'll leave everything in your hands, Hokage-sama."

He left out of the T&amp;I department, leaving Hiruzen to get Cell 7's keys from the drawer. Walking into the narrow hallways into the cell section, Hiruzen saw Naruto sitting one the floor with a crisscross. He raised an eyebrow, wondering curiously if she was meditating.

When Hiruzen placed the key on the lock, the noise startled Naruto, causing her to open her eyes. She tilted her head upwards, locking eyes with him. Hiruzen sighed. "Naruto-san, I have an apartment opened south of Konoha. Here's the address."

He handed her a piece of paper, of which when she looked at the address, she widened her eyes a little bit.

Hiruzen took notice of her actions and asked with narrowed eyes. "Is anything wrong, Naruto-san?"

Naruto scratched the back of her head. "Umm, no. Not at all Hokage-sama. It's just that you're letting me free."

_'Is she on to something?' _Hiruzen thought suspiciously. "Yes, I am letting you free. That is only because I believe in your words," Hiruzen put some pressure on Naruto.

Naruto sensed the pressure and gave him a tight lipped smile. "I will forever be in your debt, Hokage-sama."

He nodded, but in his head, he thought, _'She might think we're on to her. __Maybe now, this mission will carry out for six months.'_

She sighed sadly. _'I still don't have his trust.'_

Hiruzen sent out a jounin with Naruto to lead her to her "new" home.

* * *

While walking with an unknown jounin, Naruto had a mental battle with Kurama. **_'You dummy! Didn't I tell you not to show your Jinchuuriki status!?'_**

_'Yeah, but I told Jiji that I wasn't __exactly__ a Jinchuuriki!'_

Kurama growled low in his throat. **_'How dare you defy me! That's why you don't show off all of your most powerful moves to those scrawny beings back in Iwa!'_**

Naruto grumbled under her breath, causing the jounin next to her to look at her weirdly. '_Shut up, ya furry anus! I had no choice in that matter! They attacked me and I came on to my bare instincts! I can't help but use those move cause they're the ones that I used in the war for so long, dattebayo!'_

Kurama sighed, but couldn't help but agree with her. **_'Whatever. The past's in the past.' _**Inside his cage, Kurama softly grumbled,** _'Good job on your convincing side story.'_**

From there, Naruto burst out laughing cockily as she placed her hands on her hips. The jounin leading tripped slightly due to the sheer radiance that was coming off of her. The jounin thought to himself, _'How can she look and sound so high and mighty while wearing a hospital gown?'_

Naruto noticed her outburst and blushed a little in embarrassment as she smiled apologetically at the jounin. He gave her a reassuring nod. Naruto and the jounin returned to walking.

_'See, you dumb head! You made me look like a fool!'_

Kurama smirked. **_'Aren't you already a fool, Kit?'_**

Naruto cursed at him as he said, **_'Shut up, Gaki.'_** He then had a menacing look on his face. **_'And of all the Bijuu you could've represented, you chose that stupid octopus?!'_**

Naruto waved him off mentally. _'Shut up, Kurama...'_

**_'How dare you te-'_**

"Here is your new apartment. It's not to far from the heart of Konoha," the jounin paused as he pointed to the opposite direction,"so this area is versatile for many reasons. This apartment's pretty old, as you can see, but I hope it's not too shabby for your taste."

Naruto shook her head with a grin plastered on her face. "No, it's perfect, Jounin-san."

The jounin smiled with a small tint in his cheeks. "Anytime." He then added hastily, "Just be sure to check in with the landlord before you head inside room 12."

By the time the jounin turned around, Naruto had already climbed up the off-white wall, and into the familiar place. The floorboards creaked just about the same way they did the last time she stepped inside the place she had called home.

The alluring sunlight shown through the window, lighting up the limited space. She smelled the air, having the scent of old wall paper and dusty window sills—just the way she liked it.

Naruto sighed in serenity. "Home sweet home."

**(A/N: That's it. Thanks for reading.)**


	4. Chapter 4

Scrolls laid messily inside Naruto's apartment. The blotched black ink on the wooden floors dried permanently as Naruto wrote down characters inside the white, blank scrolls the day before.

Seemingly enough, she was still taking down notes as to what was written on the large scrolls her 'future' friends had given her. "Man, even though I hate reading..." Naruto sighed as she slowly blinked. "I still hate reading." She slumped her arms that were supporting in keeping her up.

Not having a blink of sleep that whole night, Naruto flinched from the morning sunshine her small view could offer. She sighed, readjusting her position so that she could still read the thin papers. The night before, Naruto was reading the small handwriting Sakura had given her which stated what NOT to do in the past.

Naruto closed her eyes again, restraining herself from falling asleep. She cringed as she remembered how many things she did that she wasn't supposed to do. However, Naruto reminded herself, this was only Sakura's point of view.

The next portion Naruto had to read was from an actual book in which she came as far as to read the prologue to chapter five out of thirty. The book's name gave prediction of boringness to Naruto as it was called _The Science of Time Travel and Paradoxes_. Naruto thought,_'Why the heck would you give me something I wouldn't understand, Shikamaru?'_

Naruto threw the book to the side and slowly went through the pile of scrolls throughout her small apartment. Smiling slightly after finding it, she opened the scroll to reread it's literacy. _Timeline _was the scroll's simple name. She recognized the user's handwriting—Kakashi's. Naruto nodded with her eyes slightly widened. Kakashi's handwriting was as beautiful as calligraphy itself.

Of course, because Kakashi was the one who had written and researched for major turning points from the past, which included from the old warring states to the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, he did add his own personal touches that Naruto could recognize. Naruto read the first caption out loud,"Konoha was founded by Hashirama Senju." The date of the entry was written below. Looking downwards as the date transcended into more present times, Naruto saw the words, "Hatake Sakumo saves comrade instead of successfully completing his mission." She nodded her head and downwards.

Reading thoroughly, Naruto came closer and closer to what seemed to be the time period she was in. She smiled when she saw what was written. "The Second Shinobi World War." The words that left her lips continued, "Hmm, what's the date, dattebayo?"

She tiredly sighed, cursing softly as she didn't know the date. She rolled her eyes and continued to read anyway. "Hmm, Sannin get their title inside Amegakure while facing Hanzo of the Salamander?" Naruto frowned as this date had jumped from a span of three years after the beginning of the Second war. "That long, eh?"

Reading through, Naruto saw another one of Kakashi's 'personal touches'. She smiled sadly as she read, "Hatake Sakumo's death." She had a thoughtful look on her face after reading the caption. Naruto smirked a bit when she saw how sloppily written the caption was compared to the others. It was as if Kakashi was hesitant about putting that inside the timeline. She compared the two of Kakashi's 'personal touches' and they were written almost identically.

Saving that into her memory, Naruto read on. "End of the Second Shinobi World War." She looked at the beginning of the war towards the ending of the war—a span of about five years. Naruto sighed, thinking about the war she was just a part of. She had participated in the Fourth Shinobi World War for almost the same amount of time the Second lasted. Shaking her head, Naruto then calculated and approximated on what event she might of been closest to in her head,_'I might be near Hatake Sakumo saves comrade in trade of unsuccessfully completing his mission, but I think I'm about as close as how the Sannin got their title. Maybe even farther away or closer than that. If I can just know the date...'_

She released her thoughts when she stood up and looked outside the window. _'Hmm, I wonder if Ichiraku is opened?' _A grim feeling engulfed her being. _'IF it has been opened.'_

She shook he head rapidly and told herself, "I'll just have to see for myself, then."

* * *

Uchiha Karou clapped his hands loudly to get the attention of the Uchiha Police Force. The Uchiha judicial star proudly plated on his right shoulder sleeve didn't go unnoticed. He sighted the rest of his staff and announced,"We've got a mission everybody!"

Everyone inside the room stopped in their tracks. Karou showed a rare smile. "I know it's been a very long time since we've all had a combined effort where everyone is participating in. Sandaime-sama told me that it's going to be a spy mission into whether or not a certain suspect is trustworthy enough to reside in Konoha."

The whole police force adopted an interested look. It wasn't everyday the whole police force shared a mission together. Usually, there would be five teams of two that patrolled Konoha all the day long. It would be a nice change to all for this new mission. A senior officer, Uchiha Rouko, shouted out, "Karou-taicho! Is there anything else you need to tell us about this mission?"

"Actually, yes. The person we'll be spying on is a twenty-year-old, blonde female. Now, living in the the other side of the village, opposite to where the Uchiha clan is at, Naruto-san could be a threat.

The majority of the police force inched an onyx brow upwards. Karou nodded his head understandingly. "I'm sure all of you were informed of the fiasco that took place in Iwa some weeks ago." The police force all nodded their heads. Karou continued,"Well, it so happens to be that Naruto-san created that disruption."

An uproar of voices sounded. Karou clapped his hands again. "Everybody! Naruto-san came here to find a refuge and hospitality! However, the Sandaime himself is suspicious of her. Now, because we're in a war, we can't just give help to everyone that labels themselves as a 'foreigner who needs refuge'. "

Before Karou could continue, Uchiha Izumea cut in, "Is there a background on her Karou-taicho?"

Feeling a bit annoyed from the interruption, Karou nodded tersely. "She claims to be from one of the smaller villages in Ame. Her village was ruined from the war, just like most of the villages in Ame. She is also an exceedingly strong konoichi. The Sandaime didn't say more."

"A kunoichi?" Izumea interrupted. "Why would we let a strong konoichi inside our village?"

Karou glared his Sharingan at him. "Izumea, if you interrupt me one more time, you'll be out of here before the mission even starts," he said slowly. Izumea shrunk inside the crowd, not wanting to be the center of attention. Everyone in the room had a slight chill in their spines. Karou breathed in and deactivated his Sharingan. "As I was saying, she is a konoichi. As to why Sandaime-sama let her in was his own choice. However, Sandaime-sama has everything under control as he has us to patrol over her."

Everyone in the room had a small smile on their face. Karou brimmed with confidence. "Let's work hard, everybody. We'll show everyone!"

In the room next door, thirteen-year-old Uchiha Fugaku heard cheers. He opened the door that connected to the cheers and looked at the police force with a small frown. Everyone was acting more differently than usual. Well, usually, the police force would go on with the day boringly, seeking out any crime that would make the job a bit more enjoyable. Also, it would always be quiet in the room next door unless something good or bad happened. The cheering from the other side of the door continued. Taking that as a sign that something good may have happened, Fugaku opened his door to investigate.

Fugaku stoically walked out of the office and next to Karou. "Karou-sama, what's going on right now?"

Karou looked at Fugaku. Fugaku was the Uchiha Police Force's intern. He would usually be in the office doing paperwork seriously. He was a strong shinobi for his age and can easily take down some of the adults in the clan. Karou replied, "We've got a mission from Sandaime-sama."

Fugaku showed a rare interest. "Really? About what?"

"Naruto-san, a blonde woman. She is taking refuge here in Konoha..."

After the explanation, Fugaku showed a slight anticipation in him. "Really? Can I be a part of the investigation?" Karou understood Fugaku's excitement because after Fugaku was a chunin, he became an intern for the Uchiha Police Force. Now, being an intern, Fugaku barely got any missions as his position on the police force was already a "mission".

Karou had a doubtful look on his face. "I don't know..."

One of the Uchiha officers heard in on the conversation and joined in, saying, "Awww, c'mon, Karou-taicho. It'll be great training for Fugaku in the future." After thet, everyone in the room agreed.

Karou sighed and said, "Okay Fugaku, I think I have the job for you. Just wait a moment."

A smirk was shown on Fugaku's face, "Thanks, Karou-sama."

Karou waved him off. "Yeah, yeah. Go back to your office, Fugaku. I'll call you later." With that order, Fugaku nodded wholeheartedly and left to the office.

* * *

The usual dusty roads Konoha produced were empty in the morning. Naruto sniffed the ramen-filled air as she began to inch closer to Iciraku Ramen. Taking that as a sign that her most favorite and one-and-only ramen stand was opened for business, Naruto smiled as there was actually something to look forward to in the future.

Finally nearing in on her destination, Naruto saw a red streak of hair pool on to one of the silver stools the ramen stand had. Naruto frowned. _'Could it be?' _Naruto calmed herself by exhaling. She couldn't get her emotions too out of control now because that would ruin her whole trip to the past.

Casually walking up on a stool, Naruto pretended to not know what she wanted to get. "Umm, 'scuse me Sir, but what are the chef's recommendations?"

Teuchi smiled warmly to Naruto and said, "Hmm, judging by the fact that you need my recommendations, you don't come here often, eh?"

Naruto nodded her head. "Yup. Actually, I'm new here in Konoha."

"Really? Then that means it's on the house, right old man?" Kushina said excitedly right next to Naruto. Naruto had to hold in her breath to stop from releasing her emotions. Naruto took only one split second to look at the younger version of her mother. Kushina's features were similar to Naruto's when she was younger. Purposely straying her eyes from her mother's, Naruto glanced back at Teuchi naturally and grinned.

"For real? It's on the house?" Naruto said with a glimmer in her eyes.

"Of course, Of course, umm...?" Teuchi said with his smile lines showing. He then looked at Kushina. "Goodness Kushina, I'm only twenty-five."

"Naruto," she said. Removing a strand of hair covering her face, Naruto turned to her left and saw that Kushina was scarfing down her own food.

Teuchi smiled towards Naruto then added, "Teuchi." He added, "But there's a catch. It's only your first bowl that is free."

"Awww. That's not cool!" Naruto whined.

"Well, I was almost put out of business when this little girl happened to eat my whole inventory when I told her it was on the house." He pointed at Kushina, who just stuck her tongue out to him. Teuchi laughed mirthfully with Naruto as he started to pour broth into the handmade ramen noodles. Finally, a couple minutes later, ramen was out in front of Naruto.

After an hour, Naruto finally finished her fourteenth bowl. Kushina looked at her with a gaped mouth. "Wow, Naruto-san. I'm Kushina! You could even give me a run for my money." She grinned and grinned. "That's super awesome." Then Kushina lifted her hand in which Naruto shook. "I think we can get along just fine, 'tebane."

Naruto had an identical grin on her face as she nodded; they laughed together. She wanted to keep her and Kushina's conversation only small talk for now. Naruto glanced at the wall behind Kushina and cheered, "Yay! You guys have a calendar!" She walked up to it, which said, _'August 15'. _Naruto shifted from her seat as Teuchi got her the bill. _  
_

Kushina looked in interest as Naruto suddenly unsealed the proper amount of money to Teuchi from her wrist. Naruto jumped from her seat and waved goodbye, "Bye Kushina-san, Teuchi-san!"

Naruto now understood why the crowds on the fish stands were huge. It was still time for 'The Early Bird Special' in which all the "most fresh" and "just caught" seafood was laid down on the beds of ice. Judging by how the bigger-than-usual-crowds were stacked upon the stands, the Early Bird Special was almost over in which gave a deeper meaning to time—it was almost ten o'clock. She smiled to herself. "Some things never change..."

Seeing that her apartment close ahead, Naruto sprinted to her home.

* * *

Rummaging through the stack of scrolls, Naruto finally found the _Timeline_. She read through the long scroll, finally finding the date she was looking for. "Hmmmm, future Sannin infiltrate into Amegakure's borders." Naruto saw the bottom of the caption and smiled. "This was only about a month ago." She read ahead and saw the familiar lines. "Sannin get their title inside Amegakure while facing Hanzo of the Salamander." She sighed as she thought out loud, "Hmmm, Hanzo of the Salamander. Is he really that strong to face all three of the future Sannin all by himself?"

She felt a faint chakra signature outside her apartment. **"Kit, they've already started..."**

"I know, I know." She paused when she read another line, "I've already put a security seal around my place. It makes my apartment soundproof. I've also tweaked it so that if someone tries to look inside my apartment from the outside, everything inside will look as if there was nothing to be seen. So, if the person right outside my window will try to look in, they'll see a clean floor."

From the seal, Kurama approved with a grunt. **"When'd you come up with this seal, Kit?"**

"Hmmm, I guess yesterday in the cell. I had nothing to do, so..."

**"Wasn't it dark in there?"**

"Yup," she said cheerily, "so I did it in my mindscape."

Kurama looked confused,**"How did I not see you?"**

"Eh, you were sleeping and too tired to even notice my chakra signature. Anyways, speaking about sleeping, are you still tired, dattebayo?"

**"Not too tired. Maybe after another nap, I'll be as good as new."**

"That's great! By the way, why are you in such a good mood?"

In his cell, Kurama shrugged his shoulders. **"Don't know, I guess I feel good because I wasn't interrupted in my sleep?"**

"Hey! That was only_ one _time! And by the way, I needed you in Iwa!"

**"Shut up, Brat! My chakra was depleted! If you weren't my container, I would have feasted on your flesh and hung up your bones on the very walls of my cell!"** He heard an 'eww' come from Naruto.

"Eww, you would hand up my bones in _my own_ body? How would you do that?"

**"Anything is possible."**

"There goes for an actual pleasant talk with you."

**"Shut up, Brat." **Kurama shifted to a more comfortable position. He rolled his eyes when Naruto cut off her connection with him.

Naruto sighed as she rolled on the floor.

As her living room was still, if not even more, messy than it was that morning. To her, it was still uncomfortable to sleep soundly inside a secured village. Over the years in a war, she had adapted to sleeping on uncomfortable grounds and positions. She was also hyper-sensitive to sound as she slept—even a mere split of a twig from the outside can wake her up from her bed. She heard the spy's calm heartbeat.

Looking out at the window, she felt the faint chakra signature belonging to the person that was spying on her retreat farther. The chakra felt familiar to her. She smirked knowingly as the chakra reminded her of Sasuke's. "Uchiha?" she asked to no one in particular. Then, Naruto remembered that the Uchiha clan was thriving in this time period. Her smirk was still painted on her face as she exited her apartment complex and walked towards the heart of the village.

Hiding her chakra signature completely was an easy task to do as she had done it a million times in the war. Naruto felt her 'spy's' chakra signature spike up in confusion. The now noon sun was up, meaning that Konoha was now live with crowds lurking the produce markets and fish stands. This gave Naruto an easy hiding spot where she can finally find her spy.

Naruto felt the spy's chakra and trailed it. She now easily spotted the offender. Naruto nodded to herself as the person was an Uchiha. But, the question on her mind now was who was the Uchiha. He looked familiar, in his preteen years, and an air of confidence. Sasuke came up on Naruto's mind when she saw the boy's hairstyle—duckbutt.

Naruto sweatdropped, this was like being thirteen-years-old all over again. She laughed to herself when she saw the boy glare at the crowds. Quietly on light steps, Naruto went to a local market and picked up some food to look like she was casually walking around. Naruto smiled when she saw that Fugaku was following her.

Fugaku nodded to himself when he finally successfully hid all trace of his chakra signature.

Up ahead from Fugaku, Naruto clenched her plastic bags tighter as she was surprised to not feel anymore of the Uchiha boy's chakra signature.

Fugaku hid behind a shady alleyway right behind Naruto. Feeling a slight suspicion towards her, Fugaku felt that she knew that he was tracing her. It was a good idea that Karou-sama had made him do the first day of following her so that if she was to find out that he was tracing the suspect, she would brush him off as he was still a 'kid' playing around. So far, Fugaku's mission had gone without a hitch, making him feel a bit of pride to himself.

Fugaku cursed to himself when he lost Naruto and ran forwards, deeper in the concrete hallways the alley had. However, he didn't take notice of the invisible ninja wire due to his sudden departure. However, he did take notice of the small hand that was reached out to him. He widened his eyes when he now closely saw what Karou-sama had described as their new suspect.

Naruto had a small glint in her eyes when she said, "Are you okay?" When Fugaku took accepted her hand cautiously, she finally introduced herself, "Hi, the name's Naruto, dattebayo."

**(A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N: Sorry I'm late, Guys. I was out of state in the middle of nowhere and school happened. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!)**

Naruto's apartment was minuscule compared to the Uchiha manor. Fugaku wondered how a person could live in such a tiny space. The kitchen, bedroom, and living room were all practically in one room, only excluding the bathroom.

He sweat dropped on how this play of things came into motion. However, before he was on her doorstep, he remembered when his suspect, Naruto-san, helped him up, she had an unladylike snort come out from her mouth.

"The name's Naruto."

At that point, Fugaku only widened his eyes slightly. Never in his life had he ever 'tripped' as badly as he did a couple seconds ago. He thought of a series of scenarios what could happen if his suspect would find out about his mission.

He chose to call himself a different name, Uchiha Tadashi. There was no point upon lying about his surname as the symbol of the Uchiha clan was sewed on the back of his high-collared, navy shirt.

Fugaku's pride overtook him as he ignored the offered hand and picked himself up. Mentally, Naruto narrowed her eyes at the thought of an exact copy of Sasuke being the boy that was named Tadashi.

Naruto sighed at his behavior. "Tadashi's" face was as stony as any other Uchiha. She saw him react confusedly at her sigh. Then, she bluntly told him, "A favor for a favor."

Fugaku's confused face deepened. "Excuse me?"

Naruto hid her smirk behind another sigh. "It is only common sense to help the one who has helped you. Now, help me carry these groceries. They're starting to strain my fingers, dattebayo."

Fugaku countered, "From my understanding, you didn't help me in any way. I helped myself."

Naruto rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But wouldn't it be polite to help someone when asked?"

Another thing Fugaku never had done in his whole entire thirteen years of life was had a conversation with a complete stranger and completely hate them in only five minutes. He begrudgingly kept his head high and stated one simple syllable, "Hn."

At that point, Naruto's head was about to explode. Were all Uchiha's like this?! She bit her tongue from saying the nickname she had given Sasuke's—Teme. She took one calm, deep breath and handed him the heaviest plastic bag.

Fugaku didn't stop from narrowing his eyes at this woman this time. How dare she treat him like he was even less than the servants of the detestable Hyūga?! Fugaku stiffly grabbed the bag and questioned, "Which way is your destination, Naruto-san?"

Naruto smirked in victory. "Don't worry, only two more blocks." She laughed a little. "Why? Is it because your arms are getting a little tired?"

Fugaku bit his tongue from retorting back and simply offered a simple, "Hn."

Naruto rolled her eyes and led the way.

For some odd reason, Fugaku was suddenly behind the doorstep of Naruto's small apartment. Naruto had ordered him to stay behind the door because of the flimsy reason that her apartment was infested with cockroaches.

It wasn't like he even wanted to enter her so-called cockroach-filled home. He didn't know why he was still there for that matter. Naruto had just lightly told him to stay behind the doorstep.

The door was wide open. Fugaku analyzed the inside of the apartment and all in all, it was clean. No cockroaches were seen. He sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. He had a feeling that he should enter.

Upon almost taking the first step, a loud thud was heard. Naruto ran all the way from her kitchen to in front of Fugaku. He gave her a wide-eyed look and couldn't help but say what was on his mind, "You are odd."

A growl escaped Naruto's mouth. "Whatever, Teme."

Fugaku twitched his eye. Of all the things Naruto could have told him, she had called him Teme? Shortly after, Fugaku said, "Dobe."

An unreadable look appeared on Naruto's face. Then, she suddenly slammed the door shut in front of his face. Fugaku frowned, thinking that she had known about his mission.

A click was heard, then the door opened again with Naruto having a smile on her face. "Here." She threw him a small plastic container with cherry tomatoes inside. With a shinobi's gracefulness, Fugaku caught the container with ease. He looked at the tomatoes than at Naruto. However, by the time he was about to glance at Naruto, the apartment door had already been closed once again.

Even with the unsettling feeling that took place in his heart, Fugaku was reassured when he saw a small note on the side of the container that read, _Tadashi, this is the sign of my thanks_.

A rare smile embraced his lips when he opened the container and popped the small tomato into his mouth. This mission was becoming into a good turn of events.

* * *

Sakumo had an unsettling feeling that rested in his heart. That reason being Kakashi. He sighed when he got the second call that very week from Kakashi's home room academy teacher saying that Kakashi had taunted another student and both had ended up in a fight.

He sighed again. Sure, Kakashi was very mature for his age, but Kakashi was also a very young child—children were children. The walk to the academy had been a long one for Sakumo even though he lived only a couple houses away from it. Even though he was happy that Kakashi was opening up just a little, he still felt that Kakashi should've refrained himself from fighting.

The father in Sakumo perked up in worry as he thought to himself, _'Will Kakashi continue to fight and be like one of those delinquents on the street causing trouble.' _He frowned. _'Maybe I'm overthinking it- but, what if he becomes rebellious to me and not listen to anyone and maybe this-' _Sakumo took one deep breath to calm himself down.

Even though Sakumo was feared throughout the shinobi nation as _The White Fang_ and a ruthless killer, he still had a soft spot, which was Kakashi.

When Sakumo entered the entrance of the academy, he went up to Kakashi's classroom. Upon entering, Sakumo didn't see any children inside the classroom. He looked at the time and finally found out that it was lunchtime for the students.

The home room teacher was sitting on his desk, finally catching Sakumo in his sight. Sakumo greeted him, "Tenrou-sensei." When he got the man's attention, he went straight to the point and asked, "What did Kakashi do this time?"

"He got into a fight with Obito-kun today during spars."

Sakumo raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what your supposed to do in a spar? Fight?"

Tenrou sighed. "Not a fight during the spar, but after. See, when I called up Kakashi to pair with Obito, Kakashi had easily won. After the spar, he called Obito a 'dead last', I suppose, and then Obito took the first swing."

Sakumo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wasn't this the same scenario from last week?"

Tenrou chuckled. "It's like a pattern."

Sakumo frowned. "A pattern? Won't that mean that Kakashi will continue on with this violent behavior?"

He shrugged at Sakumo. "I don't know if it will, Sakumo-san, but things like this become a habit. Especially when started during adolescence."

"This will become a habit?" Sakumo's frown became deeper. "I gotta do something about this quick."

Tenrou nodded. "I suppose so. If I'm so sure, I think Kakashi went out to buy his own lunch. I didn't see him in the lunch area."

Sakumo nodded to him and headed out to find Kakashi as soon as possible.

* * *

Naruto cursed when she found out that she forgot to get eggs. "Not the eggs!"she screamed dramatically.

She cursed one more time before scrunching her hair with her hand. Her shopping had consisted of bread, strawberries, instant ramen, the cherry tomatoes she had given to "Tadashi", jam, and milk. Everything on the list was practically pre-made. Also, besides boiling water, Naruto only knew how to fry eggs.

Of course, just eating ramen would be heaven for Naruto, but having a comfort food like eggs was a must. She sighed deeply and cursed the third time. Finally getting to a decision, Naruto decided to visit the general food market the second time that day.

Upon arriving, she could see a burst of fresh produce on the front fruit and vegetable stands. Turning on an aisle, Naruto headed towards the refrigerated aisle. Looking stiffly on a sixty four pack of eggs, she nodded and loaded the haul onto her arms.

Going on to the snacking aisle, Naruto caught sight of the cashier line. She looked irritatingly at the line and bit her lip from growling. Caught in her thoughts while walking aimlessly around the grocery store, Naruto widened her eyes at what she saw.

A small child with a head of silver hair with a mask implanted on his face. She gasped and quickly ducked down behind a fruit stand before the child had turned around.

Naruto cursed when the evidence of her presence had been know as an onion was knocked down by her when she ducked._ 'And I call myself a kunoichi.'_ Naruto cursed to herself as the shock of seeing her normally thirty-four year old jounin sensei turn out to be at least five years old.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes when the person behind the onion stand was hiding from him. His curiosity got the best of him, causing him to walk up to that very person. When Kakashi saw the weird woman with whisker marks on her face, he narrowed his eyes even farther. Was this some joke or something? Could she be a potential stalker?

Naruto could see the physical change of Kakashi's facial structure even though he still had the annoying mask on his face. She awkwardly waved to him and said, "Umm, I tripped on... these onions." Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of her head and threw the onion back on its stand.

Kakashi felt a slight suspicion to this person. He noticed the way she had thrown the onion behind her back as meticulously as a shinobi would. Kakashi didn't recognize this woman either. As a shinobi, Kakashi had recognized all of his comrades to understand that they were of the Leaf. This woman, however, was not recognizable.

Kakashi's face gave no hint of any emotion as he stared at Naruto. He was no sensor, but Kakashi could also feel the small amount of chakra coursing out of her. Had she not hid all of her chakra signature in front of him mean that she was underestimating his ability as a strong shinobi due to his age?

Now standing up, Naruto saw that Kakashi was the height of where her hips were at. The blank expression on his face told her everything as she had seen it before—he was analyzing her.

Before Naruto could say anything, Kakashi simply asked, "Who are you?"

Naruto's mouth stayed opened for a while. After everything registered for her, she answered,"Naruto—just, Naruto."

Kakashi's brows furrowed. "I've never seen you before."

_'Sharp as ever. But sheesh, give a girl some slack, dattebayo. You're only a child, Kakashi-sensei.' _Naruto mentally sighed before simply answering once again, "I'm new here." Before Kakashi spoke again to question her, Naruto added, "And if you're wondering, I am a kunoichi."

An awkward silence took place between the two. Kakashi just stared intently at Naruto while she weirdly scratched the back of her neck. Naruto bit her lip and tried to avoid eye contact with Kakashi. Her lips attached into a fine line when she remembered what her past sensei had told her about his childhood, which she had doubted.

Seeing Kakashi's past-self, Naruto finally believed him. Who knew Kakashi-sensei would grow up to be such a pervert. The child she was staring at now was still just a toddler who was even more mature than herself—well, most people were.

However, Kakashi did tell her many things. Just like how he used to fight with his soon-to-be-teammate, Obito, in his academy days. Would that consider to be childish? She frowned, wasn't Kakashi supposed to follow the shinobi conducts like they were his religion?

The only explanation Naruto could think of was that Kakashi would grow to be more meticulous to the rules and soon have the rules embrace his daily life. A high possibility of this to happen may have also been impacted by major events that stunted Kakashi's childhood to nonexistence.

A flourish of sadness washed inside Naruto. However, she just smiled as she had the opportunity to change things—even if they were to benefit just one person. Anyway, wasn't that the reason to travel back in time—to change things?

"Now let's talk about you. Let's start off with your name," Naruto said to Kakashi.

Kakashi's suspicion for this person grew. "Kakashi." He cursed when he hesitated—do not show your weaknesses to your enemy. Over the span of ten minuets of meeting each other, Kakashi had labeled Naruto as "The Enemy".

Naruto laughed."That's a funny name."

Kakashi slightly pouted (and cursed himself again for showing his emotions)."There's nothing wrong with my name. My dad have it to me."

"So you're a daddy's boy?" Naruto giggled.

Before Kakashi glared at Naruto, a voice spoke up, "Who's a daddy's boy?"

Both Kakashi and Naruto widened their eyes. Kakashi had a relieved expression as he coolly walked up next to his dad. Naruto raised an eyebrow as their appearances were almost like carbon copies. "I hadn't sensed your chakra signature, Hatake Sakumo." Then she added after a small pause, "That's quite impressive, dattebayo."

"If I remember correctly, it's Naruto, right?"

* * *

"Impressive. This will probably be one of the rare times I've ever let anyone live after I battle them," Hanzo said on top of his salamander summon.

Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru all looked questionably at Hanzo. What had he meant by "letting anyone live after I battle them"?

Hanzo continued, almost pleased by their cluelessness, "I'll only let you live and even back down from this wretched war if you all have the title of sannin."

Jiraiya spoke up first, "And what makes you think that we'll believe you?"

Hanzo smirked and answered, his voice muffled from his mask, "Because I have a scroll that is personally sighed to back down from this war. Go give it to your Hokage, and the war shall be of no longer."

Orochimaru frowned. "How so?"

"Every village participating in this war has backed down or is on the verge of backing down. My village is the only one who hasn't, with yours, of course. And, if I were to back down now, the war would be done. No more casualties, no more food shortages, no more overfilled hospital tents, no mor-"

Tsunade cut in, "Enough, Hanzo!" She looked at both her other teammates who nodded back. "If I say that we believe you, what makes you think that we'll keep up some petty title?"

Hanzo replied back instantly, "I'm not so shallow that I would be that careless. I have already predicted about this outcome for a while now. I have known your infiltrating business inside my village for quite some time now. Even though I could've killed you all with a flick of my hand, I chose to go the hard way in which has come to this.

Orochimaru frowned at how Hanzo could've taken them out much more earlier then coming to this conclusion. It was true that the three of them were sent out to infiltrate Ame and then inform Konoha. However, before they could do that, Hanzo had attacked them, leaving them to call Konoha for support.

However, the support that consisted of one-hundred-fifty shinobi came in vain as all of them were wiped out, leaving the soon-to-be-sannin the last ones standing.

"An agreement will be placed inside the scroll, saying that your own Hokage has to create a new title for you three which you all have to obey of else you will be placed inside prison. It's as simple as that."

Jiraiya repeated, "And what makes you think that we'll believe you?"

Hanzo's eyes opened wider as his smirk grew wilder. "Because I also signed it under Ame's name. If I don't keep my contract, then all of Ame will belong to Konoha, making Konoha to become even more influential. Here, even see for yourself." He threw the scroll to Tsunade.

Tsunade's eyes widened at the scroll's literature. "Are you insane?"

Hanzo just looked at her, and with a 'poof', he was out of their sight. Before Orochimaru and Jiraiya scanned through the scroll, the three new sannin took shelter inside a cave. Inside the cave, Jiraiya whispered, "This is the real thing guys."

Tsunade frowned. "How do you know, Jiraya?"

He answered to her, "Because this" ––he pointed to a square stamp––"is the official decree of Ame. It was even stamped by Hanzo's own blood, making it even more official."

Orochimaru nodded. "Oh yes, that's right, I remember now."

Tsunade then said,"I just don't understand why he would give this opportunity so... freely. Don't you think it's kind of suspicious?"

Jiraiya put his fingers around his chin in a thinking pose,"Yeah, that is really suspicious. But the thing that confuses me even more is how he put Ame's name on it. What kind of normal person would go as far as to put their own ruling village into another rivaling village's hands? Is it just me, or do you think that he's going senile?"

An almost inaudible chirping sound was heard. Orochimaru turned around and saw Konoha's fastest hawk. He quickly lifted his arm up as a sign for the bird to land on it. When the hawk arrived, Orochimaru quickly untied the message from the bird's right leg.

Tsunade and Jiraiya waited anxiously for Orochimaru to explain. "It says that Sarutobi-sensei needs us ASAP." Tsunade looked at him for more information, but Orochimaru shook his head at her. "That's it. Must be important though. He even sent us the fastest hawk."

"We'll talk about these mission matters later with sensei." Jiraiya stretched his shoulders.

Jiraiya nodded with his teammates but stopped when a child's voice spoke up,"We need to get stronger. Train us."

Jiraiya looked wide-eyed as three children pooped up from the darkness. He could tell that they were war orphans due to the many scattered all around Ame. He felt sympathy for all of them. "This is Konan,"—he pointed to a purple haired girl—"Nagato,"—a redhead—"and I'm Yahiko."

Jiraiya could see the sympathy, even though it was small, cross his other teammate's faces. Orochimaru walked up to them with a kunai in his hand. "I can end their misery, Jiraiya."

Jiraya widened his eyes. "Don't do that Orochimaru!"

Yahiko stared at Orochimaru with fearful eyes, but stood his ground. "I want to be trained so I can bring peace to this war-filled world."

Jiraiya looked intently at Yahiko, who seemed to be the leader of the trio. Jiraiya crossed looks towards Tsunade and Orochimaru. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him. "Jiraiya, don't tell me that you're going to train them, you baka!" After failing to hear his comment, she continued much more calmly, "Sensei needs us right now, and I am for certain that it's for something important! We still have to deliver this scroll!"

Jiraiya flinched at her sternness. "But we can't just leave them out here."

Orochimaru glared at him and he hissed,"We've left many orphans on the streets and even made some, Jiraiya. And now, why would we start to save these orphans? Might as well save all of them."

Jiraiya could see the logic in Orochimaru and Tsunade's statements but couldn't help but counter them, "Then_ why__ not_ start now?"

Tsunade's glare was on him now. Jiraiya pleaded ,"Maybe I can bring them to Konoha. Only if Sensei approves. I see something, a spark maybe, in them. Even though it sounds cheesy, I feel like I need to get that spark to burn through the dark of this world." They still didn't look convinced, so he made the ultimate sacrifice."I'll even stop 'researching' for a whole month."

Tsunade widened her eyes as if she won a gamble. "It's a deal!"

Orochimaru was lost for words as suddenly, Tsunade was on Jiraiya's favor. He shot one more warning look to Jiraiya before walking out of the cave. "Fine then, we'll have to get there in less than a week."

Jiraiya shot a grin of triumph and motioned for the kids behind him that everything will be alright. He held the scroll in his hand tightly, and deeply nestled in his heart, he felt like this was the right thing to do.

**(A/N: Thanks for reading!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**(A/N: Welcome to another chapter of Unknown! Thanks for waiting patiently for everyone who did so and also, thank you all for those who reviewed, favorited, followed, and even to those who even take their time to read this fanfic. Enjoy!)**

The Sandaime waited patiently for the arrival of his students. It had already been almost a week since he had notified them through Konoha's fastest bird to come back to Konoha to talk about the matters of the war. The stacks of paper on his desk were piled neatly, all of which showing the names, date of birth, shinobi ID number, and picture ID of the many shinobi who died that day.

The Hokage grimaced when he thought of the tremendous casualties produced since the beginning of the second war. Hiruzen looked at his office clock and thought about the tragedies recorded that day in particular. Twenty-three dead, forty-five wounded.

Hiruzen could not get the fact out of his head that he was the one who ordered them to their deaths. From what he saw, all the shinobi who died that day had an average age of nineteen, with the youngest being fourteen. The Sandaime shook his head sadly. Not many of them had reached their peak because most of them were still chunin.

A knock from the door cut Hiruzen off from his thoughts. The aging Hokage anticipated the final arrival of his students. He sat up more straight and positioned his hat in a more comfortable position. "Come in," the Sandaime responded to the knock.

However, when Hiruzen read the four people's chakra signature, it was drastically different than Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya's. The door was opened to Sakumo, Kakashi, Naruto, and an Uchiha officer.

Hiruzen frowned, thinking that when Naruto was involved, serious matters would appear. "Is there anything wrong, Sakumo?"

Sakumo sighed deeply. Naruto's face was solemn. Kakashi expression was blank. The Uchiha's face stayed stoic.

The Sandaime took this seriously. He folded his hands on his desk after clearing the papers that were on it. Hiruzen repeated more forcefully, "What happened, Sakumo?"

Sakumo pinched the bridge of his nose. "This lady over here was to be sent to the Hokage for disrupting the peace in Konoha and destroying one of Konoha's properties."

A confused look flourished upon Hiruzens face. "Go on?"

The twenty-eight year old opened his mouth to say what had happened before.

* * *

"If I remember correctly, it's Naruto, right?" Sakumo inquired Naruto. Naruto looked at the taller silver-head and could not stop herself from gaping. Before, when Naruto had been interrogated, she had seen him when her vision was quite blurred, but she still saw the resemblance of him and Kakashi. Now, however, seeing him up close, they were almost like carbon copies.

"Y-es." Naruto cursed to herself when she stuttered a bit. By then, she had put her double, sixty-four egg packages on the tiled floor. The blond kunoichi sighed to herself mentally,_'First, I'm just going to the super market to get eggs, then I'm caught up with Kakashi-sensei and his dad. Great.'_

Sakumo now was next to Kakashi. An awkward silence began between them, with both unsure how to proceed. Naruto became annoyed as she did not like awkward silences and asked, "So he's your son?"

The oldest of the three answered blankly, "Yes." He then looked at Kakashi and sighed. "I heard what happened at the academy today."

Naruto couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

Kakashi did not answer Sakumo. Sakumo continued after a brief pause, "Kakashi, don't pretend you didn't hear me. I heard that you and that other boy—Obito, I think—got into a fight today." Sakumo shot Kakashi an unimpressed look when he did not answer. "You've been getting into a lot of trouble lately, Kashi-chan—"

A choking noise was heard from Naruto. Sakumo looked behind him and sighed when he forgot that he still had the whiskered blond behind him.

Naruto still could not get her laugher out of her system when she repeated the words her head, _'Kashi-chan, Kashi-chan, Kashi-chan...'_ Never in a million years should she think that her own feared sensei would be called _Kashi-chan_.

Identical navy eyes were now staring at Naruto. Kakashi, on the other hand, had a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment in his eyes. Naruto stopped laughing when a new type of awkwardness emerged.

Sure, she had no right to eavesdrop on the Hatake family matters, but she could not help it—it was inevitable. Both Kakashi and Sakumo looked at Naruto with unwelcoming stares. Naruto's smile became crooked.

Naruto accidentally stepped on the eggs on the ground as she tried to make her exit. She slipped on them and landed on the metal cabinet behind her._ 'How the heck am I still a kunoichi?'_ Naruto asked and cursed herself. She knew that this wasn't going to end well, but still prayed to the gods that nothing drastic was going to happen.

Widened navy pairs of eyes saw the turn of events unfolding. Suddenly, as if all time was stopped, one after the other, the metal cabinets dropped as if they were dominos.

Never in his lifetime did Sakumo ever think that this would happen. It was like an unlikely and unrealisticcliché.

Everything grew silent as the fourth and last metal cabinet dropped. Tens of pairs of eyes were now directed on Naruto.

If things could not get any worse, the Uchiha Police Force soon became involved and went inside the local super market. "What happened here?" a policeman asked.

The market clerk showed the chaos leading up to Naruto. Sakumo was still shocked at the predicament and Kakashi's eyes were still wide.

The police looked at trio and walked up to them. The raven-haired man stated, "You three are coming with me."

* * *

When Sakumo finished with the story, Hiruzen could not help but ask him, "If all of this was all Naruto-san's fault, why are you and Kakashi-kun here, then?"

Sakumo answered, "We're supposedly the witnesses."

Hiruzen nodded and finally noticed the raw eggs on Naruto's right leg. He lit up his pipe and stressed mentally on how much paperwork this will cause him. This matter will also include the civilian councils, leading up to another three-hour-long meeting.

He sighed into his pipe and asked the Uchiha officer, "And how much was the damage? Approximently...?"

The Uchiha stiffly said, "The manager of the supermarket gave me this." He handed the small sticky note paper to Hiruzen.

"Twenty-thousand for the metal cabinets, eight-thousand for the food, and two-thousand for the broken tiles. This all adds up to thirty-thousand ryo."

Naruto stared at the Hokage, astonished. The Sandaime could not help but feel sorry for the girl.

She was in a state of shock. Thirty-thousand ryo was about a little over a third of how much she had brought with her, all of which was combined and received from her friends. Naruto felt a bit guilty to her friends because during the time of war, it was hard for money to come by—especially if you were the one taking part of it.

If she could, Naruto would pay for the debt easily. However, this was not her own money.

The words finally came out of her, "Wa-wait. Is there any other way I could pay for this?"

The pity the Sandaime felt before grew when he saw Naruto's unintentional puppy dog eyes. He showed his sympathy by saying, "Fine then, you will participate in community service for three months. Ten-thousand ryo will be payed for each month you work." He then looked expertly inside his paper stacks and handed a paper to Naruto. Hiruzen inhaled, then exhaled,"Your debt will then be payed for in three months."

A look of agony took presence on Naruto's face when she saw the paper. Hiruzen chuckled a bit,"Ever since this war started, more and more D-ranked missions keep popping up for some unknown reason." He took out a large and thick book from one of the chestnut-colored bookshelves behind him. "This book here is the reservation book for D-ranks."

Naruto's jaw dropped. Never in her life had she ever seen a D-ranked reservation book that thick. The Sandaime continued,"Since these D-ranks keep on popping up, that means we need more shinobi, usually genin, to complete these missions. But, since a mission-boom appeared, that means that there is a shortage on genin teams doing these tasks."

The Sandaime looked deadly serious to Naruto. Then, judging by the whiskered blond's expression, Hiruzen stated,"I'm sure that you are familiar with D-ranked missions..." Naruto cringed. Sakumo smirked while holding back a chuckle. Naruto turned to him when she "felt" his chuckle and glared at him with narrowed eyes.

Even though Naruto dreaded D-ranked missions, she still felt eternally thankful to her "jiji." She took the paper wholeheartedly and asked Hiruzen, "So I'll start tomorrow in the morning?"

Hiruzen nodded to the blond. "You know the drill."

This time, Naruto nodded to Hiruzen and inwardly cringed again, _'I have been doing D-ranked missions in the beginning of my shinobi career, dattebayo.'_

"Good, you are dis-"

The window on the Hokage's office opened fully and three armor-clad shinobi with three other figures appeared next to Naruto. Hiruzen's attention was now on the six arriving people. "Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade... and?"

Hiruzen waited patiently until Jiraiya answered,"They're orphans from Ame. I was thinking on taking them in as students." The three orphans were panting hard from the run from Ame to Konoha. Hiruzen could tell that the children were not of shinobi status by the way they had seemed so unfamiliar from running long distances.

Knitted eyebrows erupted from Hiruzen's face. Hiruzen knew that this was Jiraiya's doing. Of all the ideas and actions his white-haired student had done in the past, this was probably the most unwise. There could be a chance that those kids could be spies sent by Danzo. They could be secret weapons used to infiltrate Konoha. The possibilities were endless.

Before the Sandaime opened his mouth to speak, Jiraiya said in morse by tapping his armor, _"I could barely sense a chakra signature in them. From what I heard from the one with the orange hair, all three of them are orphans wanting to learn how to be shinobi. I also don't sense any malicious intent in them."_

Hiruzen nodded and noted the confused look on the three Ame orphans. They must have been confused on why Jiraiya was tapping his armor. If the trio had been shinobi, they would have been fluent in morse code by the time they would have graduated into genin.

The Third Hokage sighed deeply. He looked at Naruto as he blew out the smoke in his pipe. This wasn't the first time he had let someone from Ame inside his village for a refuge.

"Fine. I'll let them stay," Hiruzen said. Jiraiya's cheers were cut off when Hiruzen continued, "_But_, who'll take care of them when you three will be gone for the next mission I'm assigning you?"

All three newly made Sannin looked confused at their leader. "We'll discuss mission matters later," Hiruzen said lowly. "But anyways, who'll take care of them? You can't take them to the orphanages because they're all filled. I don't know anyone who want to have three other mouths to feed—especially because we're in war and money is hard to come by." The Sandaime looked down at his papers. "And I know for a fact that you won't let them live in the streets."

The three children next to the sannin looked at Jiraiya. The white haired Sannin gave them an assured look. "Of course I won't, Sarutobi-sensei."

Throughout the Sandaime's and Jiraiya's discussion, Naruto saw this as an opportunity. "I'll do it!"

Everyone in the room have Naruto their full attention. She continued, "Well, I'm also from Ame..." The three Ame orphans looked at Naruto with delight. "So, I guess it feels like I'm the one who should be taking care of one- I mean three of my people."

Jiraiya saw hope in Naruto and winked at her. Before Jiraiya could do any more to Naruto, Tsunade punched him hard on the head and hissed, "I thought you said you'll stop with this disgusting behavior?"

Jiraiya whined, "I said I'll stop _researching_ for a whole month!"

Tsunade's knuckle dug into Jiraiya's skull, causing him to writhe in pain. She whispered lowly, "Don't smart mouth me, Brat." Jiraiya managed to squeak out a "yes."

Naruto, on the other hand, was looking disgustedly at nothing in particular and could not get the fact out of her head that _Ero-sennin_ just practically flirted with her.

The Sandaime coughed again to get the attention to everyone in the room.

All three sannin stared, puzzled, at the Hokage. Hiruzen coughed again and signaled that there were extra bystanders in the room. "I'm sorry, but we need to discuss now. Sakumo, Kakashi, and Naruto-san with the three Ame orphans, you're all dismissed. Oh, and Naruto, you'll be taking responsibility for the three orphans until Jiraiya comes back. Everyone I didn't call, stay here."

The ones dismissed saluted to the Hokage and left. When they left, Hiruzen turned to the Uchiha Officer and said, "Anything suspicious?"

The Uchiha shook his head. "No, Hokage-sama."

The Sandaime looked the raven-haired man in the eye. "Okay then, I need you to tell this to Karou immediately after I dismiss you. Tell him to assign three times as many spies as possible to Naruto-san." He continued after puffing out smoke from his pipe. "You're dismissed now."

The Uchiha saluted to Hiruzen and body-flickered out of the office.

Hiruzen blew out his smoke and set his pipe down on his desk, placing it upright so that it won't topple on the desk. "Mission report?"

Orochimaru spoke up, "All of them were killed, except for us." Hiruzen's eyes slightly widened. The number of shinobi he sent had been sixty-four, and all of them were dead. The Sarutobi sighed. More deaths would be reported that day; ninety-seven dead. That held the record of the most shinobi casualties in one day, and counting, in the second war.

This time, Tsunade said, "Hanzo was impressed, so he let us free with the exchange of one title: Sannin. Our new title is Sannin now, Sensei." Tsunade handed her ex-mentor the scroll that Hanzo gave them.

The wide-eyed look that Hiruzen showed told the Sannin everything. Hiruzen came out of his surprised gaze and said slowly, "This is too good to be true."

"That's what I thought also, but that's the official decree of Ame," Jiraiya said.

Then a bright and hopeful look cast on Hiruzen's face appeared. "From the beginning of this war until now, I think I'm now confident to say that I think we just might win the war, my students."

* * *

Yahiko looked amazed at his surroundings—Konoha looked gorgeous. Unlike his last home, Ame, Konoha was brimming with citizens. In Ame, the citizens had always kept to themselves and stayed indoors from the rain.

Another fine feature that Konoha had that Ame did not was that Konoha also had clear blue skies. Sure, Yahiko found out the rain in his hometown comforting, but he would honestly pick blue skies over murky rain. He couldn't help but smile.

Konan also had an amazed look on her face. She noted the liveliness of the village, thinking almost as if it was an impossible feat because of the current war. She questioned on why the village seemed so open, so light, and even so friendly. Comparing Ame and Konoha, Konan saw the major differences between both villages and continued on the road to where the blond woman was taking them.

Even though Nagato's bangs covered his eyes, he could could still see what his new village was going to be like. A small smile crept up on his face thinking about how everything will be different for the better.

Nagato was interrupted from his thoughts when he collided with a lithe body. The smile on his face vanished when he stuttered, "Sor-sorry."

The redhead looked up at who he bumped into and feared for the worst, only when the most amazing thing happened—the lady he bumped into patted his head and smiled.

With a gaping mouth, Nagato came up with the conclusion that the citizens—if not all of them—in Konoha had more morals than they did in Ame. In Ame, when someone like Nagato were to bump into someone more older, the younger person would either be yelled at or cursed to.

The three Ame orphans now had their hearts set on Konoha. Of course, a large chunk of their heart will still lie on Ame, but for now, Konoha will be their new home.

Naruto glanced over her shoulder to check on the three orphans. Nodding in approval, she then turned her head to her left and glared at the silverheads next to her. She could not help but ask, "Are you two following me?"

A chuckle escaped Sakumo's mouth, causing Naruto to narrow her glare. Sakumo finally answered, "No actually, our house is right there." He pointed to a large, one-story house. Naruto ignored him. Sakumo raised a silver brow and sighed.

That action seemed to get on Naruto's nerves as she finally said, "Humph, why're you so talkative now?"

"What do you mean?" Sakumo queried.

Naruto groaned. "In the supermarket, you were always answering me like 'yes' and 'no' It made me feel awkward!" She pointed rudely at him, "That's why I tripped!"

Sakumo looked down at her, making her more agitated. He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck and lazily eye-smiled to her. "Heh, sorry then. I was probably irritated because of_ someone's_ behavior today," Sakumo answered, obviously talking about Kakashi.

A gasp came out of Naruto's mouth as she gaped with narrowed eyes._ 'What the hell! Kakashi-sensei?!'_ Naruto looked at the currently young Kakashi and back at Sakumo. How did_ that_—she looked at Kakashi—turn into _that?_—she looked at Sakumo.

It was mind boggling to think that _The White Fang_ was —she supposed— a lazy bum, just like Kakashi (in the future). She looked up at Sakumo and sighed with a slight sadness. It was almost like talking to Kakashi.

Passing by the academy, Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko looked in awe as students were playing in the playground. Konan could not help but tug on Naruto's shirt and ask, "Is that place a shinobi academy?"

Looking down, Naruto saw Konan and widened her eyes._ 'Aww, she's so cute!'_ Naruto kneeled down and smiled gently to her, "Believe it."

The violet-haired nine year old glanced back at her two other friends and told them the news. That seemed to spark a large interest upon the group, causing their eyes to shine.

Kakashi, who was now on Sakumo's shoulders looked at Naruto boringly. His silver bangs framing his face got caught in front of his eyes. Kakashi struggled to place his bangs out of the way, causing Sakumo to sigh. The older Hatake placed Kakashi's hair behind his ears and then patted his head while seriously saying, "Next time this happens, I'm going to use bobby pins in your hair, Kashi-chan."

For the second time that day, Naruto spluttered as she heard the father-son duo's conversation. _'Kashi-chan... bobby pins?!'_ She laughed out loud while staring at the Hatakes.

Identical navy eyes were now staring at Naruto. Kakashi, on the other hand, had a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment in his eyes, very similar to the expression on his face earlier. Naruto stopped laughing when the same type of awkwardness emerged from the supermarket that day.

Then the whiskered blond pointed accusingly to the pair. "See! That's the awkwardness! This was all your guy's fault, dattebayo!"

Sakumo rolled his eyes and turned to the corner, finally reaching his house. He said, "Whatever."

Naruto gaped with her hand still pointing to where the two Hatakes were at. She exhaled longingly and groaned stressfully. Yahiko tapped Naruto on the back and said, "Ummm, weren't we going to your place or sumtin'?"

Konan gaped at Yahiko and slapped him across his head. "Owie! What was that for!?" Yahiko yelped while aiding his head by cradling it which his hands.

The purple-haired girl said,"Don't be rude and vulgar, Yahiko."

Naruto smirked toothily to the orangehead and violet while saying, "It's okay, and by the way, I was just getting to that, you little rascals!" She then coughed to clear her voice. "Now I heard that you guys wanted to become shinobi." The three orphans looked with anticipation to the older blond. Naruto continued, "Well, for step number one for becoming a shinobi: you must run like a shinobi. So last ones there is a rotten egg!"

Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan looked at each other and smiled. But just when Yahiko was about to run, he said, "But that's unfair! We don't know where you live!"

A smirk was produced from Naruto's mouth. She then added, "Step number two for becoming a shinobi: prepare for the unpredictable!"

And with a streak of golden light following behind Naruto's path, Naruto ran in a golden flash.

**(A/N: For anyone that has questions for this chapter or anything that relates to this fanfic, please feel free to ask away. I'll try to answer all the major questions in the coming chapter or through PM. Anyway, thanks for reading!)**


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Sorry guys. I absolutely have no excuse whatsoever for being late. But, throughout this month absence, I found another beta-reader by the username **Yuna the Ninja **(go check out their profile). Once again, sorry for the absence, and enjoy!

* * *

One month quickly flew by from the time Naruto took temporary custody of Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko.

"C'mon, nee-chan! Teach us something worthwhile for once!" Yahiko complained.

Naruto had her scrolls parched out all over the floor, writing delicate characters on the parchments. The boy's sudden whining caused her to accidently knock over the black ink, carelessly staining the bamboo floor.

Naruto snapped her bamboo brush in half. She got up and stalked towards Yahiko with a glare, causing him to cringe back with fear. "Yahiko," Naruto growled in a low voice, "shut up."

The orange haired boy gaped but did not have enough courage to talk back. Naruto smirked in triumph and looked down at the ex-Ame boy.

Konan and Nagato sighed as they watched the scene unfurl itself. However, both smiled when they reminisced back to the days they began staying in Naruto's apartment.

One month before the present time, when Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan first entered the small but homely apartment, Naruto had been thoughtfully kind to them. For all three children, it was the first time in years taking shelter inside an actual home instead of a cave or alleyway.

The first thing that came out of Yahiko's mouth after seeing through the apartment had been a single phrase,"Hey, Nee-chan, would it be rude to ask if you got some food around this place?"

"Yahiko, be polite." Konan quickly reprimanded the boy.

Yahiko laughed sheepishly and slightly bowed his head down towards Naruto, who took it in surprise. The orange-haired boy muttered, "Sorry, umm..."

Naruto widened her eyes in surprise. "Oh, no, it's fine," her eyes softened. "and it's only natural to be hungry after travelling all the way from Ame."

Yahiko's eyes gleamed in joy at the prospect of finally filling their stomachs with something.

She grinned foxily at the children. "Oh, by the way, my name's Naruto."

After that day, the blond guardian's compassionate attitude towards the children had steadily changed the kids throughout the month, as she had gotten closer to them. Now, Yahiko was tolerably loud, albeit barely, Konan was just like the little sister Naruto never had, and Nagato was finally starting to open up to her.

Soon after Naruto had met the three children, she came to learn more about the three children's personalities. The self-proclaimed leader of the three-person group had grown into an extremely obnoxious and loud child, even more so than when they had first met. Surprisingly though, Yahiko was intelligent, which showed in the way he spoke to others when he used complex vocabulary that most kids his age didn't even know, but this side of him was seldom shown.

Konan was both kind and gentle to both the boys she had grown up with. She had the politeness of a princess but the personality of steel when it came to protecting her friends. The indigo-haired girl was the type to never leave behind her comrades and friends—the solid traits a Konoha shinobi should have.

Nagato was a wholeheartedly honest person. This became painfully obvious when he opened his mouth to speak. He wasn't afraid of speaking his mind, even to his superiors. He was the type of person who would stride to the direction he felt was right. Like Konan, Nagato shared the trait to be like a person who never strayed away from his comrades and friends.

All children had extremely exceptional personalities and traits. They were all very intelligent in their own ways, causing Naruto to believe that they would surely become prodigies in the future (even if Naruto already knew that all three orphans would become S-rank ninjas).

It was two weeks later when the three Ame orphans grew on Naruto. The children had just started to call her "nee-chan" by then. It was then the kids and Naruto had stopped being formal with each other. The reason for all four's relationship to grow closer was none other then training, something that Yahiko convinced Naruto to do with his incessant pestering.

The training itself wasn't anything extravagant; Naruto usually gave the kids a simple E-ranked jutsu or taught them the basics of properly holding and throwing a kunai or shuriken. The blond jinchuuriki tried her best to give the mini training sessions every afternoon, always freeing up her schedule to fit the three children's training regime.

This agenda had been going on for a month.

Now, Naruto and Yahiko were so comfortable with each other's presence that they bantered very often, while Konan and Nagato watched the duo with an amused grin.

"It's nice here, huh?" Konan slightly nudged Nagato's shoulder.

"Sure is," the redhead replied quietly.

The indigo-haired girl turned her head to face Nagato, who had a small but genuine smile on his face. Her content smile suddenly faded away at seeing the boy's face, and a visible frown marred her delicate features.

"Why is it that your hair always covers your eyes, Nagato?" She suddenly inquired.

"My hair?" Nagato inquired worryingly.

Konan nodded and raised her hand to move away the hair away from his eyes. The boy bit his lips in panic as he desperately searched for a way to get out of this situation. "Umm, Konan, I-"

"Okay kids, help me clean up!" Naruto called out commandingly.

Nagato breathed out a sigh of relief. Konan's attention was broken from Nagato as she smiled widely and called out to her sister figure, "Okay, Nee-chan!"

Aww, can't you just make 'em clone thingies, Nee-chan?" Yagato whined. The orange-haired boy had a stubborn look on his face while he crossed his arms on his chest.

Naruto shook her head. "No can do. I promised my past sensei that I won't make clones for stupid reasons like doing my chores for me. I'm only ever going to summon them for battles or special cases." She sighed wistfully at the thought of Kakashi,"Now, I understand why Sensei told me to promise him. I would've gotten lazy and that could hold me down on the battle field."

"Argh. Finneee!" Yahiko trudged to pick up the papers on the floor.

Then, a slight knocking noise was heard from the window. "Hmm?" Naruto paused midway from wiping the dishes dry. The children had not seemed to notice, too busy doing their own chore.

"I'm heading out for a while, Guys."

Yahiko threw an accusing finger. "But, Nee-chan! What abou-"

His voice was drowned out when Naruto closed her front door shut.

"Naruto-san."

"Tadashi-kun?" Naruto raised a golden eyebrow.

Fugaku nodded as he heard his code name. "Yes. I'm here to escort you to the Hokage's office. You were summoned by Hokage-sama."

"Sure," the Kyuubi jinchuuriki couldn't fully mask the uneasiness in her voice._ 'So the Uchiha are still on to me, huh? They've done a good job hiding their chakra from me, dattebayo.'_ She must have been too distracted to notice this during the past month due to the three children in her apartment.

"Just wait a bit," Naruto said to Tadashi.

The blond came back inside and caught the children's attention. "Guys, scratch what I said before. I'm gonna head out for more than a while. While I'm gone, please try not to break anything," she then looked at Yahiko. "and I'm talking to you, Yahiko."

Naruto looked at Nagato and mentally nodded to herself.

And once again, before Yahiko was able to retort, Naruto effectively cut him off by slamming her door shut.

* * *

The Hokage sat silently on his seat as he quietly waited for Fugaku to bring Naruto to his office. Just as his hand was about to touch a certain orange book hidden in his drawer, a small knock on the door was heard.

"Come in," the Sandaime said in a nonchalant tone, while withdrawing his hand in a speed worthy of his hokage title.

The whiskered blonde entered and stood in the center of the Hokage's office. "You called, Hokage-sama?" Even to this day, the feeling was foreign as Naruto was still trying to get used to saying "Hokage-sama" instead of yelling out "Jiji" and running to hug the old man.

Hiruzen relaxed his face, smoothing out his faint, but surely forming, wrinkles. "Naruto-san." He looked her in the eyes before handing her a small yellow envelop.

Naruto took the envelope and gave Hiruzen an inquisitive gaze. "That's your paycheck, Naruto-san, it's about three-thousand ryo." He puffed smoke out from his pipe. "You still have two months of labor left."

"Hokage-sama..." Naruto glanced at the envelope in her hands. Then she looked at the aging man again, raising both her eyebrows to show her surprise. "But I thought that I wouldn't able to get money cause I still needed to pay for the destruction of Konoha property…"

Another whiff of smoke blew out from Hiruzen's pipe, causing the smell of tobacco to thicken. The Sandaime then shook his head with a straight face. "Just think of it as a gift for taking care of the children."

Now that she thought about, the kids were sucking up a lot of her savings—especially Yahiko. He almost had an appetite as big as hers with ramen when it came to dango.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Naruto smiled thankfully to her Hokage.

"If that's all set, then I guess you dismissed, Naruto-san."

Naruto's once cheerful face slowly morphed into a serious one. "A moment please, Hokage-sama."

"Hm?" The Hokage blew out another puff of smoke from his pipe.

"May I speak to you in private? With none of the…operatives listening in. " Naruto spoke in a hushed tone.

Hiruzen blinked._ 'So she can even feel my ANBU's presence. Quite a talented girl, that one.'_ He decided to comply to Naruto's request and dismissed his ANBU guards with a single chakra flare.

Leaning back on his leather chair, the Sandaime looked straight into Naruto's eyes, signaling her to proceed.

The blonde was still uncertain on whether telling the man would be a good idea, but steeled her resolve once again and began speaking. "This matter is about one of the children that I am taking temporary custody of—namely Nagato-kun. He's the one with red hair."

Adverting his eyes for a moment to look at his papers, Hiruzen finally recalled the boy from Ame. What could have possibly happened about Nagato to instigate a serious conversation like this?

Naruto didn't waste any time meandering around, and went straight to the point. "Nagato holds one of the most powerful doujutsu known to man in the shinobi world—the Rinnegan."

Even though he was the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen could not help but clearly show his shock by dropping his pipe from his mouth while he gaped. How wouldn't one have the same expression as he?

The Rinnegan was like a myth, as was the doujutsu's last known user—The Sage of Six Paths. The man was only able to regain his calm when he breathed in another few puffs from his pipe. A small drop of sweat formed on Hiruzen left temple. "Have you seen Nagato-kun's Rinnegan before?"

The current Hokage still couldn't trust the blonde's words, or rather the blonde herself. And for her to suddenly approach him with such an absurd piece of information…He sighed in the pipe, causing smoke to flitter in the room again.

Naruto's voice retained the deadly serious tone when she replied without a moment of hesitation. "Yes, I have." She half-lied, but technically speaking, Naruto did see Nagato's Rinnegan back when she was in her original timeline.

Hiruzen was shocked once again at the woman's confidant proclamation, but kept his head and stubbornly said, "How can you be for sure that Nagato-kun possesses the legendary Rinnegan? As far as I know, the Rinnegan wasn't seen for at least several decades." He continued pressing the woman. "The Rinnegan depicted in most books vary and is most likely to be false."

_'The old man is still as stubborn as even, dattebayo!'_ Naruto barely stopped herself from twitching her eye. "Trust me, Hokage-sama, when I was still in the academy, I never picked up any of those dumb, complicated textbooks 'cause I never had the money to buy them to begin with." The Hokage raised a single brow at the unexpected revelation.

Naruto continued, undeterred. "But what I can do is describe Nagato-kun's Rinnegan." Again, the Sandaime could not help but feel a bit anxious when hearing about the Rinnegan's naked appearance. "His Rinnegan is light purple in color and looks like a target with four surrounding circled rows ascending from his pupils."

The Sandaime widened both his eyes in surprise. It was beyond belief. That was, in fact, exactly how the Rinnegan was supposed to look like, based on ancient books and scrolls in the Hokage's library. So unless the girl was somehow able to access the book, which was extremely unlikely even with her prowess, Nagato's Rinnegan was most likely to be true. However, the aging man couldn't help but think that this was a bit too far fetched.

But, as for now, Hiruzen had no choice but to believe her.

"Naruto-san, I'm still a bit iffy on this subject."

"Naturally," Naruto straight face gave no sign of emotion.

"So, that means I need more proof." He breathed in the smoke smoking from his pipe. "And they do say 'seeing is believing.' "

Naruto nodded her head. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded back. "You can come here anytime tomorrow. You are dismissed now, Naruto-san."

The blonde curtly bowed and exited the room.

* * *

Upon entering her home, Naruto shouted out, "I'm home!" She came inside, attracting all three kids. "Lookie, moola!"

"Money?" Yahiko questioned with stars in his eyes. He tried to touch the envelope in her hands.

"Sorry Yahiko," she held the envelope out of his reach, "but I'm not wasting my hard-earned money on dango."

Yahiko deflated immediately at the sound of that.

Konan giggled lightly and comforted Yahiko with a pat on his shoulder. "Hey, Nee-chan, what will it be used for then?" Konan asked.

The blonde looked at the younger girl and cocked her head sideways. "I dunno, ramen?"

"Hey! That's the same thing as spending money on dango, only dango being better is the difference." Yahiko sheltered a smug look on his face.

A flick met Yahiko's face from the irate Naruto.

"Ouch!" The orangehead held his nose gently in his palms while trying not to glare at the now-smug face of Naruto.

"I was just kidding, kiddos. I'm going to save up the money for when we may need it." Naruto nodded to herself.

"Then, if it's not to rude to ask, how much money did you get?" Yahiko asked, curious.

"Why are you acting so polite now?" Naruto narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"You're being so rude and nosy, Yahiko-kun," Konan added.

Yahiko rolled his eyes and put his left arm around Nagato's shoulder. "Nagato, you wanna know too, right?"

"Huh? Know what?" Nagato asked back, snapping out of his dazed state.

Three pairs of eyes were now set on the bewildered redhead. "I'm sorr-"

"Nagato," Naruto said. She decided to cut off her conversation with the other two kids and focus on Nagato.

"Yes, Nee-chan?"

"I need to speak to you for a moment, privately."

The boy nodded quietly and followed the woman towards the door.

The remaining kids' curiosity peaked to a dangerous degree, leading them to stalk the duo out the door. "What do you think Nee-chan needs to talk to Nagato-kun about?" Konan whispered.

Yahiko gaped. Had Konan just asked that? Wasn't being nosy and impolite not in Konan's book? "Konan, is there somethin' the matter with you today?"

Konan frown, now getting what Yahiko was thinking about. "Just forget that I asked, Yahiko-chan."

"Yahiko-chan? Konan, that's girly!" The orangehead whined childishly.

"Huh? Where did they go?" Konan poked her head out the door and frantically searched, but they were already long gone.

* * *

Naruto sighed as she activated privacy seals around the room where she and Nagato were in. It was inevitable that both Yahiko and Konan were going to be curious about a secret prohibited to them. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to single the boy out in such an obvious way.

"You've been spacing out a lot on us today, Nagato-kun."

He looked up to her from behind his hair, which was still hiding his eyes from view.

Then, the blond's eyes landed on the smaller boy as she ruffled his hair playfully. Almost instincively, Nagato raised his hand to fix his hair back over his eyes. Naruto stopped the boy by holding his wrist. "Nagato, it's okay. It's fine. I know why you're trying so hard to hide your eyes."

Nagato's face paled instantly at her words, and his now-visible eyes were wide, clearly showing the ringed pattern of his Rinnegan.

Walking backwards, Naruto came to a halt as she felt the solid wall behind her. She then slumped down, sliding her back on the wall into a sitting position.

Nagato did not know what to do then until his blond guardian pointed to the floor as a sign to sit down. He complied with her speechless command.

In a soothing voice, Naruto asked the redhead, "Would you mind sharing?"

Five minuets passed without anyone saying anything. Finally, knitting his eyebrows, Nagato began speaking tentatively. "I k-killed with these eyes."

Naruto nodded her head with a sympathetic look in her eyes. She had already known of Nagato's past because of Jiraiya, but didn't say anything because she wanted the boy to get his tragic past off his chest.

Nagato anxiously glanced at the woman before continuing. "Just when the war started, my-my mama and papa and I chose to stay in the village. It was actually a big mistake because shinobi taking part of the war went into people's homes and took everything, including people's lives."

Seeing the tears forming on Nagato's eyes, Naruto raised a hand to console the boy, but stopped herself from doing so. That could come after this was over.

Nagato's purple orbs gleamed as the light coming from the window shone on his eyes.

"They happened to come to the house where we lived in and my papa and mama attacked the intruders." Naruto's mouth formed a firm line when she realized what was coming next. "My parents died by the shinobi's hand. I-I didn't know my eyes became like this right before I killed the shinobi."

His words became jumbled. "I-but I didn't mea-n to kill 'em." Even as the tears fell incessantly, Nagato adverted his eyes away from Naruto's, not wanting see her pitying eyes.

However, when his gaze laid on the Konoha symbol on a poster Naruto had, something mentally hit him like a ton of bricks. His eyes widened as he came to a single realization—wasn't it Konoha shinobi who he killed?

A sense of dread and anger thundered through Nagato's being. Konoha—the shinobi he killed was from Konoha. His stomach dropped as he squeezed his eyes shut to try to keep his tears at bay. However, this action came in vain as wet, hot tears came pouring even more uncontrollably than before.

The light that seemed to encase Konoha when Nagato first came to the shinobi village disappeared, being replaced with a dark gloom instead. He screamed at the top of his lungs, unable to handle the dread any longer.

Naruto sighed, mentally patting herself on the back for putting up the privacy seals in her room. She knitted her golden brows together and took the ten-year-old into her arms

And slowly, Nagato's cries turned into whimpers, which then turned into sniffles.

Smiling softly to herself, Naruto's familial embrace for the younger child tightened as she whispered, "Do you have something else to tell me, Nagato-kun?"

His sniffled some more. "Ne-nee-chan?"

"Yes?"

"They were Konoha shinobi." He whimpered and buried his head on the blonde's shoulder.

"Ko-konoha shinobi?" She stuttered in shock. That complicated things a little. It wouldn't do for him to harbor too much hate for the village. Naruto almost hesitated to ask the following question. "Does this…give you a different opinion on Konoha?"

The redhead paused. "Yeah."

Naruto feared for the worst. "Do you want to leave now?"

Tears came cascading from Nagato's orbs again. Naruto hugged the boy closer to her again, and soothingly rubbed his back to comfort the boy.

"N-no." He whimpered pitifully. "I feel like I'm in the middle, Nee-chan. I hate the village for killing my parents, but I feel guilty for killing the village's shinobi."

"Nagato, I'm very sorry for what happened to you." She paused briefly. "However, I think that you already have your life set with both Yahiko and Konan who have been with you throughout this war. You're not planning on leaving those two alone, are you?"

Nagato widened his eyes in realization. Yahiko and Konan never parted from him after that fateful day. They both have been his angels who saved him when he was about to die. "Your-you're right, Nee-chan." He whispered almost inaudibly.

Yahiko and Konan was his family and now, he also had Naruto as his Nee-chan. He smiled at his thoughts. It was a great feeling to know that his family was so close to him, never drifting away.

Naruto let go of the boy and patted the top of his head. "I'm not telling you to do it right this moment, but promise me to at least _try_ to forgive Konoha, even if it's just a little." She smiled lovingly as she peered into his glowing eyes. "I'm not saying that you must forgive and forget. But just don't get ballistic and become an avenger—I know all too well that that never goes right."

Nagato hugged his sisterly figure and spoke in a hoarse tone. "I promise."

* * *

"I don't believe this," the Sandaime groaned as he massaged his forehead.

It seemed that Naruto wasn't lying at all when she said that Nagato possessed the legendary Rinnegan.

Several times now, Hiruzen had tried to dispel what he thought was a genjutsu, in many different ways, too. Despite having said, "seeing is believing," Hiruzen still could not believe that the little boy possessed the natural phenomenon called the Rinnegan.

Could it be that Nagato was a direct descendant of the Sage of Six Paths? Hiruzen nodded to himself mentally as that could be a possibility. He couldn't say anything for sure though, as barely anything was known about the eyes.

On the other side of the room, Naruto smirked amusedly. The old jiji must be having a mental breakdown right now. Served him right for doubting her until the very last moment.

Nagato, however, just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, fidgeting in the presence of the most powerful man in Konoha.

His head perked up at the sound of the Sandaime's voice. "Nagato-kun, may I see your eyes a bit closely?"

Nagato felt hesitant to accept the Hokage's request due to his still lingering thoughts from when he confessed to Naruto the other day, but complied with it nonetheless.

Walking behind the desk and next to the Hokage, Nagato held his fringe up for the Hokage to look.

The Sandaime scrutinized the boy's eyes and sighed. He could feel chakra powerfully radiating off the eyes. The purple gleam reminded the Hokage of the Hyūga and their Byakugan, though this was obviously much more potent and powerful.

The man mulled over a few things for a moment, and called out to the secretary who was waiting just outside the door. He then gave an order to the woman in a hushed tone so that the others couldn't hear anything. She nodded and swiftly left the room.

After several minuets, the same secretary came back with a small container in her hands. The secretary gave the small container to the Hokage and bowed to him before she left his office.

"Naruto-san, can you come here?" The Sarutobi ordered.

She nodded and walked to his desk.

Just in case, I got Nagato some contacts so that he can hide his Rinnegan. Surely, if one were to find out of Nagato-kun's gift, chaos would arise. We absolutely cannot let the council know, especially the civilians' side."

Naruto grimaced at the thought of the dreaded council. "That's a great idea, Hokage-sama!"

Hiruzen nodded. "These contacts here are special. The Hyūga use them to hide their Bayakugan during missions that require them to be undercover or infiltration. But, because normal contacts can only change one's eye color, they will be useless to the Byakugan users because they are both without pupils and their eyes are all through the same color as Nagato-kun's Rinnegan."

Naruto nodded at what the Sandaime explained to her. He continued. "With these special contacts, they are protected with chakra and cover the full visible eye, making Nagato's natural Rinnegan eyes appear to look like a civilian's, Naruto-san."

"That'll be very useful in the future," Naruto thought out loud.

"Indeed it will be."

"How much can I get them for?"

Hiruzen looked surprised. "How much? What are you saying? I'm giving this to you."

"Really? Free of charge?" Naruto perked up.

"Free of charge," Hiruzen repeated.

And Naruto smiled and bowed to him. _'Thanks for always looking out for me, Old Man.'_

* * *

Putting on Nagato's contacts was an easy task that had the end result of Nagato having blue eyes that clashed with his crimson hair. However, the look fit Nagato like a glove.

Now, Nagato's bangs were positioned to the side, making him look gorgeous.

Naruto smiled, feeling as if she was even closer with Nagato now then before. The smile on Naruto's face grew as she remembered that there were two other kids waiting for her at home.

Occupied by her thoughts, Naruto narrowly prevented herself from bumping into someone. "Sorry," she apologized.

"Hm? Is that you, Naruto-san?" A voice came from behind Nagato and Naruto.

_'That voice…'_ She turned around and mentally groaned. It just had to coincidentally be Hatake Sakumo whom she nearly bumped into. Then without looking back at him, Naruto said,"Actually, I take back what I just said."

Sakumo had an amused look on his face as he concealed his laughter by somewhat coughing.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, with faux cheerfulness.

"Oh, I'm getting my first mission after my month-long break. " Sakumo replied with a smile.

This peaked her interest. She didn't have a proper mission in ages. "What's this mission about?"

"Confidential." was Sakumo's simple reply. He then asked, "Did you just come from the Hokage's office?"

"Yup."

"Is it because you got in trouble again?" He asked with the mask of innocence.

Naruto blinked once, and then blinked again. Oh, so that was why she did not like the elder Hatake; he constantly found a way to get on her nerves. "To clarify, Hatake, it was actually your fault that I slipped."

Sakumo shook his head and replied sagely. "But was it I who physically slipped and knocked down like twenty, fifty-ton shelves?"

Naruto narrowed her eyes. Sakumo was excessively sarcastic and exaggerated. She glared at the man, who only smiled back pleasantly.

"Watch your back, Hatake. 'Cause you never know when your hair will fall out one of these days." She grinned, imagining a bald Sakumo. She cackled to herself as she also imagined him sulking in a corner.

For some reason, Sakumo actually took that threat to heart. While putting on his gloves, Sakumo told Naruto, "You're oddly obvious in your threats, Naruto-san. Perhaps you could learn something called subtlety, an art that ninjas should have mastered by the time they graduate from the academy."

Naruto stared at him blankly. She has never been called obvious before. Unpredictable, yes, but obvious, never. Her stare turned into a smirk, "We'll just have to see about that, Hatake."

Sakumo gave Naruto one more smile before he turned around to walk away with his hand held up in a waving gesture. At least talking to him now wasn't as awkward as before. Naruto shook her head and unknowingly smiled, walking away with Nagato in her hand.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **This chapter was a bit longer than the others and I promise I'll give more Sakumo and Naruto time in the next chapter. Please tell me what you guys think of this installment, but I hope you all did enjoy it. Till next time!


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Hey guys! I'm back! So school's tomorrow after Thanksgiving break and I'm beyond belief sad—especially with Naruto ending and all. BUT! Naruto: The Last is going to air next month! Who's exited? Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

It was the third month mark when Hiruzen decided that he needed Naruto to sub for an academy teacher who left for their maternity leave.

"What?!" Naruto widened her eyes when Hiruzen stated his proposition. The aging Hokage sighed; he knew that this was coming and was fully prepared for it.

"Okay, Naruto-san. I want you to sub for a teacher who is leaving for her maternity leave," he said slowly, treating Naruto like she was a mere toddler.

Naruto almost exchanged a glare to her Hokage, but abruptly stopped herself from doing so—the current Hokage wasn't her past Jiji. "Sorry for my sudden outburst, Hokage-sama. I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, it's fine, Naruto-san. It's only expected when, I assume, you have no credibility in teaching." Hiruzen folded his hands together and looked straight into the blond's eyes.

The blond kunoichi nodded her head rapidly, as if telling Hiruzen that hiring her for the job was not a good idea.

The Sarutobi clan head knew fully well that assigning the job to Naruto was not the best, but, as the war was still going on, many of Hiruzen's shinobi were required and drafted to war with the exception of Academy teachers, genins, and the pregnant.

Even though some of the Hokage's ANBU was still present in Konoha, Hiruzen could not make them teach children in the Academy because he would only waste his manpower in the war by making his ANBU teach the children instead of doing important missions that could benefit to Konoha.

Hiruzen shook his head in worry while twiddling the brush on his right hand. He had no choice in this matter, as Naruto was still a subject of suspicion, therefore she could not partake in the war. Although these negatives, the blond-haired kunoichi was the only shinobi available, in which possessed all the standards an average Academy instructor needed.

Naruto retorted back with carefulness,"Hokage-sama. I've never had a mission like this one before. I'll be useless to the students like this."

Without bruising his power, Hiruzen commanded sternly from behind his desk,"As Hokage of Konohagakure, I say that you have to do this mission." He then added, as if trying to bribe her,"And if you do accept, Naruto-san, then your paycheck each month would be equivalent to a low-ranked mission."

Hearing this, Naruto's eyes bugged out,"Seriously!?"

A sage-like nod came from the Hokage's side,"In Konoha, our children are precious as they are the new generation—the kings—of the coming future." He sighed,"And children of this age are extremely hard to handle."

Hiruzen puffed out the herby scent of smoke before putting his pipe down and informing Naruto,"Even though your debt is fulfilled, Naruto-san, you still have the three children to take care of..." He left his sentence unfinished, leaving Naruto time to think.

After a short pause, Naruto questioned. "Bu-but, aren't I someone who shouldn't be trusted with kids!?"

Hiruzen frowned with a serious facade enveloping on his face, "So you yourself is telling me that you can't be trusted?"

Naruto widened her blue eyes and denied what Hiruzen said almost instantly. Hiruzen could not keep the smirk on his face at bay.

"Class starts tomorrow at 8:45 AM in room 24A. Be there thirty minuets early to prepare." The aging Sarutobi had a triumphant look on his face, causing Naruto to stare at him with a sour look on her face.

Then, Naruto frowned, 24A sounded a bit familiar.

By then, Naruto could not argue with the Hokage. With the frown still placed on her face, she bowed down and dismissed out to the front door.

When the blond left the office, a small satisfied smile was etched on Hiruzen's face. He wouldn't tell anyone, but he was just starting to warm up to Naruto.

* * *

Trudging up the pathway to where her apartment was at, Naruto sighed to herself, making it blatantly obvious to everyone that she was not in a very pleasant mood.

Naruto just knew that something bizarre was going to happen tomorrow.

* * *

When Naruto entered her home, she had mixed feelings. Confused as to why she got a mission to teach, worried because she wondered how teaching would be a new experiment, anxious because she had always thought about how it was like to be a teacher like Iruka-sensei, and lastly, ticked off on how messy the living room was.

Of course, the culprit was Yahiko. Maybe Konan and Nagato as well, but she wasn't sure.

A stressful sigh escaped Naruto's lips. Even though Naruto had been a messy child when she was growing, this was unexpected. There were snack crumbs on the floor, dango sticks presented on the cracks of the couch cushions, and fresh milk stains on the walls just to name a few.

The blond guardian shook her head slightly and pinched the bridge of her nose. She hollered, adding a hinted tone of disappointment, "Okay guys! Over here now!"

Naruto heard three wooden chairs simultaneously screech backwards from the kitchen's tiled floor. The trio came running towards her, completely ignoring the mess they made, and even making more of a mess by knocking things over as the ran.

After a minuet of standing in front of Naruto, the blond gave out another stressful sigh in which finally got the kids to notice the mess around them. They all bowed their heads down in shame.

"You guys know what to do, right?" Naruto said softly, but effectively.

She shook her head as the children cleaned up the apartment. Naruto decided to take advantage of the small free time.

_'Ne, Kurama?' _Naruto made her way through the abyss of darkness, finally closing in when she saw a red-glowing glob of fur.

**_'Hm? Whaddya want?' _**The nine tails rumbled out of his drowsiness.

_'Did you hear what Jiji said?'_ Naruto scratched the inside of her left ear.

**_'Fill me in with the details, Naruto.'_**

Naruto shrugged her shoulders,_ 'He told me to be a sub temporarily for a teacher who's on her maternity leave.'_

**_'Is he out of his mind?' _**Kurama was now fully awake. **_'Does he know how reckless you are?'_**

Naruto rolled her eyes and contorted lamely,_ 'Shut up, you but- rude fox.'_

Kurama frowned, marring his facial details,**_ 'What's gotten into you?'_**

_'Work with me, Fox! I'm trying to keep my temper in check cause, like, what if I accidentally "name call" a student and they tell their parents? And then, parents are gonna complain to Jiji, and Jiji's gonna make me go back!'_

**_'Go back to what?'_**

_'To the D-ranks!'_ Naruto flailed her arms wide as if telling Kurama that he was blind not to notice her conflict with D-ranks.

**'What's so bad about D-ranks?'** Kurama questioned with an honest to goodness confused expression on his face.

Naruto looked as if she was about to explode, and all she could reply back was, _'Get with the program, Fox.'_

Kurama shifted his position and sat on his hind legs while swaying his tails. **_'Okay, yeah, whatever, D-ranks are so bad that even you, a season—very seasoned—shinobi cannot do with ease.'_**

Naruto sighed, _'Okay, yeah, depending on what the D-ranked is, D-ranks are easy, but wouldn't any grown and 'seasoned' shinobi be embarrassed to have to catch a devil of a cat?'_

Kurama rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, **_'Okay?'_**

_'And the pay is low!' _She crossed her arms over her chest.

**_'And the pay is low!'_** He mocked, even going as far as to cross his arms over his chest. Naruto narrowed her eyes dangerously low, whilst tapping her foot on the flooded floor. Kurama got the hint and stopped teasing her, **_'Fine, but still, why do you think it's a punishment?'_** He paused , then continued,**_ 'And if I'm correct, isn't that old monkey doing you a huge favor?'_**

Naruto's eyes softened as she suddenly remembered that her Jiji was actually helping her. She bowed her head down in shame and hooded her eyes, _'Actually, yeah you're right, Kurama.'_

**_'It's only natural I'm right-' _**he paused and told her,**_ 'They're done cleaning, Naruto. You better head back now.'_**

Naruto nodded with a smile, _'Thanks, Kurama.'_

* * *

Nagato threw away the last piece of trash and sighed. Cleaning up took longer than expected. He headed back with the others when Naruto called for them.

"Good job!" Naruto praised while nodding moderately at the same time..

Yahiko gave her the stink eye and protested, "Hump, betcha you were even more worse then us when you were growing up."

Konan expressed his name with caution,"Yahiko."

However what all three didn't expect was Naruto agreeing with Yahiko,"Yeah, you're actually right, Yahiko."

The orange-head dropped his chin slowly. Naruto grinned and motioned for all of them to sit down. "Story time!" Naruto yelled out excitedly.

Yahiko rolled his eyes after being recovered from his shocked stature. "So," Naruto rolled the single syllable with her tongue, "I won't be here as much as usual."

Nagato raised an eyebrow and stared at Naruto with his now-blue eyes, "Why not?"

"I was getting to that," she started to play with her hair. "Anyway, the Sandaime told me to become a sensei for the Academy kids tomorrow 'til on for a kunoichi who left on her maternity leave." The blond knitted her eyebrows together and cracked her knuckles unconsciously, "I honestly don't know if I should tell you this, dattebayo, but..."

"You can tell us, Nee-chan!" Konan exclaimed With an encouraging smile on her face.

Yahiko sneered and mocked with a high-pitched voice, "Now, don't be nosy Konan-chan!"

Konan shot him an icy glare, but resumed to stare at Naruto. Yahiko sighed and grumbled, "What a hypocrite," in a silent whisper.

"Okay, okay, I'll spill!" Naruto laughed, "You guys suck!" She said childishly. "Continuing on, I feel like I can't become a teacher."

Yahiko looked up, "It's okay, Nee-chan. It'll be easy for you."

"_How_?" Naruto expressed with a frown tilting the muscles on her face.

Yahiko shrugged, "I dunno," he paused for a minute, as if thinking for an explanation, "I guess just... Be yourself?"

"I can't just barge in there and wreck havoc!" From the Iwa and Supermarket incident, Naruro didn't trust herself to do anything too darastic.

"That's true." Nagato agreed with an amused smile on his face. Naruto bore her eyes into Nagato's skull and gave him a dirty look.

Then, Naruto's face glowed as she quickly said, "Wait a sec, guys."

The blond ran into the kitchen and hauled out three chairs, making screeching sounds in the process. Then, after setting the three chairs down into a horizontal row out looking the apartment view, Naruto ran back to her room and grabbed a massive picture frame.

The picture frame was blank and didn't have a picture present inside it's glass interior. What was seen through the glass, though, was a blank canvas of white.

Naruto twirled a black marker on her thumb and bit her lip. "Okay, Konan, sit here," Naruto pointer to the chair on the far right,"Nagato, here," then, Naruto pointed to the middle chair, "and last, Yahiko, here." She pointed to the last chair on the far left.

"What are we even doing, Nee-chan?" Nagato inquired as the chair under him croaked from his weight.

Naruto shook her head and positioned the large picture frame horizontally, leaning on the couch. With a welcoming smile on her face, she pleasantly said, "Good morning, boys and girls! My name is Naruto-sensei," she wrote down her name on the glass surface, "and I am here as a substitute for your other teacher."

Yahiko smirked to his fellow "classmates" and replied with a raised hand and pestered, "Your name's kinda weird, Naruto-sensei."

Naruto suppressed a quiver and smiled as she ever so gently said, "Well, everyone has his or her own opinions."

Konan sighed and positioned her elbows on her thighs and rested her face on her hands. Nagato looked confused and Yahiko looked with boredom outside of the window.

The blond soon-to-be-teacher sighed and asked, "I'm doing something wrong, aren't I?"

Yahiko, as always, was first to speak up, "Well, to put it simply, Nee-chan, you just seem... Hmmmm, the word to fit it simply is- fake."

"I mean, you're nice and all, Nee-chan, but it seems like you're reading everything out in a script." Konan also suggested, "Well, it is good how you endured Yahiko's insult, but, I guess, try to remember how you're sensei used to teach you in your Academy."

Naruto remembered Iruka and smiled reminiscently, "I guess you guys are right."

Nagato pondered, "Anyway, how was your sensei like?"

"My sensei?" Naruto restated while looking at Nagato,"Well, my Academy sensei was family to me." She sighed sadly, "He- actually let's start from the beginning."

Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko were sucked in tow the subject of learning more about their sister figure's past. It wasn't everyday that she spoke about it.

"Well, like you guys, I was also an orphan."

* * *

"My genin sensei always used this stupid mask and it irked the heck out of me and my teammates. So, one day, I guess I got curious, and eventually persuaded my teammates to trail down our sensei so we can find out how he looked like."

Nagato blinked, "Why does he always use a mask?"

Naruto answered, "I don't know, sanitary reasons?" She looked at her nails, "Getting off topic, but," the blond Jinchuriki heard the roof cackle from outside, "that's a story for another time."

Yahiko frowned, "But... What?!"

Naruto shook her head and smiled, "Patience is a virtue." She held the thick transcript in her hands and slightly lifted up its yellow, thin folder for a sneak peak. Rolling her eyes at the massive amount of reading she had to do before tomorrow, Naruto ignored her fellow roommates and sat on the couch after putting everything back to where it belonged.

Yahiko wasn't having any of this, but decided to let the blonde be. He motioned for the others to settle down by zipping his mouth with his hand.

The blond Jinchuuriki widened her blue eyes and smiled. "I'm impressed."

Even though they only spent a short amount of time with each other, Naruto loved them like siblings.

It was rare to see Yahiko cooperating with Naruto, but when he did, he acted like the leader he would become in the mere future. Although having the knowledge of all three Ame orphan's future, Naruto couldn't help but say, "I raised them right, dattebayo."

* * *

"Freak! I'm late!" Naruto, after rubbing her eyes, looked at the clock with fear. She rushed to her bathroom and contemplated whether or not she should brush her teeth. "Oh, what am I, 12?!" She groaned before she quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face.

Running back to her closet, Naruto took out her new uniform. It consisted with an average shinobi uniform and a Chunin vest. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the vest with stars in her eyes. She told to no one in particular, "I've always wanted to wear one of these."

Running out of apartment after leaving a note for the kids, Naruto sprinted all the way to the Academy. It was a good thing that the Academy was only a couple blocks away.

Looking from ahead, she saw the building and cursed. Class had already started.

Running into the school building's office, Naruto finally printed her name and signature stating that she was sent by the Hokage and was a "safe" subject, trusted for children. Running in front of the classroom door, Naruto came into a screeching halt and took exactly three deep breaths. "C'mon Naruto, you can do this."

Looking straight at the door, Naruto recognized it as 24A. She smiled in recognition. That's why it sounded so familiar. 24A was when Iruka first started to teach for her and her classmates. Even though she hated Iruka at first, he eventually became one of her most precious people.

Naruto laughed, the first time she met Iruka was also the first time he became a teacher. Naruto remembered that her brother-figure also came late on the first day of school. After all those years, though, every one of Naruto's classmates—especially Naruto—learned to respect Iruka.

Now feeling a bit more confident, Naruto opened the classroom door and said,"Mornin' everybody!"

All became silent, taking Naruto back to square one. However a familiar voice was first to speak, "Sensei, you look youthful!"

Naruto's eyes brightened at the familiar verbal tick. She frowned slightly with a small smile forming on her lips. It was unbelievable. Looking across the room, Naruto spotted Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi.

"How ironic," Naruto said softly to herself.

"What was that, Sensei?" The student known as Daichi called out. The transcript she had read all night (the reason why she was late) held information about the students like their names, which Naruto memorized, and their work ethics.

Naruto shook her head and stood up with confidence. "No, it's nothing." She walked to the chalkboard behind her and wrote down her name. "The name's Naruto-sensei!" She put the chalk back down and stated, "Let's start with the daily routine."

The new teacher looked at a pair of student talking, "Oh, Ruka and Haru, stop talking there in the back. I can hear your whole conversation from down here." The students looked in disbelief at the substitute. Naruto continued, "And while you're at it, Ruka, will you please read the first paragraph in your history book?"

Naruto breathed in and sat back in her chair. Teaching was actually quite easy.

* * *

She took that back, teaching was not easy. Who knew that subbing for five-year-olds was a struggle? Goodness, and now she had to deal with it for the next who-knows-what.

Naruto knew that Kakashi got into fights with Obito, but _this_ was way out of hand. Kakashi had had given Obito a black eye and a broken nose. Obito, on the other hand, gave Kakashi a broken finger and a small patch of hair missing.

Naruto drifted her eyes, almost closing them completly. For the first time, she was put into Iruka's shoes and did not like it one bit. Iruka would always be the one to pull either her or Sasuke out of their fights, and now, Naruto was the one pulling either Kakashi or Obito out of their stupid fights.

For goodness sake, Kakashi and Obito were fighting over the stupidest things like who could clean their eraser shavings the fastest, and like Sasuke would with Naruto, Kakashi would always win, resulting to a fight started by Obito.

And then, there she was, sitting on her desk, contemplating on how she was going to deal with the elder Hatake.

It was a law (in the Academy) that all teachers had to call up students' parents if the students got into serious trouble.

Playing with the brush on her hand, Naruto bit her lip, and slouched back into her swiveling recliner chair. Then, all of a sudden, a knock came from the door.

"Maika-sensei?" Sakumo's voice sounded. However, when he saw who was parched on the chair, his eyes grew wide. "You're not Maika-sensei."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed several times before she decided to just shut her mouth. Closing her eyes gently then sighing, she opened them again. Even though Naruto was expecting Sakumo, she couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Maika-sensei is out for her maternity leave. She's not going to be back until the end of the school year." Naruto said as nicely as she could with a smile straining her face.

Sakumo nodded, "I've heard the same too. When I heard that Kashi-chan had a new teacher, I wouldn't have expected it to be you." He sighed almost melancholically when he was reminded of his late wife. "She looked like she was about to pop."

Naruto raise a brow at his latter behavior. "You seem to know Maika-sensei quite well." She then added, "You must've been called here a lot due to Kakashi's fighting."

Hearing that, Sakumo suddenly became depressed. "Tell me about it. I hope this is just a phase, though. Kashi can't keep going on like this. Even if he was strong physically, Kashi still isn't strong enough mentally."

Naruto gave him a tight lipped smile, "Hey," she hesitantly patted him on the back, "from what I've seen, Kakashi's been winning at all these fights. Sooo..." She even added,"And Kakashi is good at enduring pain. I didn't even see him shed a single tear when his finger broke. Now that's a feat!" Naruro had a sunny smile on her face while nodding in a moderate pace.

"Was that supposed to cheer me up?" Sakumo said with narrowed eyes, staring at her incredulously.

Naruto shrugged, "Never been the best to comfort people anyway, so why start now?" Her smile grew deeper into a foxy grin, "But look at it on the bright side. Kakashi and Obito are rivals."

"Rivals?" Sakumo sat up straight and twisted his body to crack his spine.

A frown etched on Sakumo's face. Naruto widened her eyes, "Don't tell me you've never had a rival." The blank look on Sakumo's face told Naruto everything. "Like people competing for an objective of sorts. Rivals...?"

"I guess I've never had a rival 'cause I was better than most-" Sakumo was cut off.

"We're not talking about _you_, we're talking 'bout Kakashi!" She expressed loudly, "And don't 'unintentionally' flaunt."

A smile appeared on Sakumo's lips as he leaned forward, causing the chair beneath him to creak. "Wow, and here, I thought that we both could get along just for once." A smirk was drawn on his face.

Naruto rolled her and swivelled her brush into her hand. She chuckled lightly and said, "But seriously, there's nothing wrong with Kakashi or even Obito for that matter." She took the brush and started to clean off the paint from it's bristle with a wet cloth,"They're both still very immature and growing boys. They'll learn through their mistakes one way or another—it's inevitable."

Sakumo, in turn, also started to help clean the brushes with Naruto, asking,"Why are there," he counted the brushes in his mind,"teenty-four dirty brushes you need to clean?"

Naruto sighed,"I was teaching the kids how to write." She then stared at him with a frown,"But, we're getting off topic," she continued to disscuss about Kakashi and Obito,"Don't tell Kakashi to stop fighting. Trust me, I know from experience. If you tell a growing child what to do, they'll just get motivated to do it even more, knowing that you get irked by it."

She looked at him with an amused smile, "And I assume that you told Kakashi."

Sakumo refrained from from cleaning his fifth brush and brushed his hair with both his hands,"But, I don't get it. Why would he want to _irk _me?"

"There's most likely no reason most of the time, though. It's just a child's mentality—how they work and process things." Naruto gave him a reassured look.

"You really think so?" Sakumo's eyes were filled with hope.

"Yup," Naruto smiled and nodded. She added, "Like I said, boy are boys. Let them be. And in all honesty, I actually support their 'early spars.' " Naruto gave him a thoughtful look whlist placing her hand below her chin to pinch it,"Maybe the most you could do for Kakashi is to encourage him."

"You're not a really good teacher, are you?" He gave her a look of disbelief.

She laughed and shook her head,"No, I don't mean to encourage him in fighting. I mean to encourage him in his dreams." She remembered the first time Kakashi introduced himself and "accidentally" forgot to fill in the blanks. Naruto could tell that Kakashi didn't really have an honest to goodness real dream he would like to persue.

Sakumo looked as if he took her words to heart. The blond smiled, pausing from cleaning the bamboo brushes,"By the way, what if Kakashi and Obito were reaching out to eachother as a sign of wanting to become friends?"

Sakumo's eyes sparkled as he remembered when he tried to tell Kakashi to become Gai's friend—this didn't end too well, resulting in Kakashi just insulting the boy because of his disability.

If Kakashi was actually trying to become friends with Obito, then this would become a dream come true to Sakumo.

"How are you so knowledgeable, Sensei?" Sakumo had a questioning frown set on his face.

Naruto shrugged,"Well, let's just say I had past experience." Sakumo shown her his curious face, causing Naruto to giggle,"But that's a story for another time, Hatake."

Sakumo sighed,"So I should just stop pestering Kashi to stop fighting?"

Naruto finished off, "Well, I do me and you do you—but I recommend you do stop." She sniffled, recognizing it to be a stuffy nose, "And by the way, when I was younger, I always fought. Look how I turned out." She presented a smile on her face.

Sakumo snorted and joked, "Yeah, cause I'm the one who just destroyed Iwa's foundation on accident. Oh, and who could forget that supermarket incident-"

"Okay, okay whatever. I have my flaws here and there, but that's what makes me, me."

Sakumo's smile was still on his face, "Maybe." After taking a deep sigh, Sakumo got out of his seat and stretched. "Thanks Naruto-sensei." He gave her a little smirk,"And, I can honestly say that was the best advice anyone's ever told me of how to deal with Kakashi." However, before leaving out of the door, he said,"Try to avoid going to the Hokage's office too often." He gave her one last wave and headed out of the door.

With Sakimo's absence, Naruto could finally relax for a moment. She sighed and laid her head on the redwood desk whilst muttering, "How rude. He's implying that I'm a trouble-maker." Even if it wasn't completly untrue, Sakumo was still being rude in Naruto's book.

The blond Jinchuuriki sniffled again and stacked her papers accordingly. Naruto sighed again and gasped with wide eyes, "Did I just tell Sakumo that I supported Kakashi fighting?"

Naruto's eyes widened as she looked at her desk. She drew out a long sigh. That meant that she was going to see Sakumo more than she wanted to from now on.

She cursed as one of the rules she had to follow was to call the parent(s) when children caused a fight other than a spar.

"I freaking hate the rules." She cursed and stared at the stacks of paper on her desk. Now, all she had to do was find out how to deal with Obito's parents.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **If you guys hadn't notice yet, I've been starting to make my chapters a bit more longer. Hope you guys had an awesome Thanksgiving and maybe Black Friday? 'Til next time.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: First of all, did you guys notice that I changed the cover of Unknown? Now, instead of Kakashi it's a SHOCKED SAKUMO! Isn't he adorable? This pic alone says a lot about his personality. Btw, sorry guys. I got no inspiration this month so this update was slow. Writer's ****block also played an important role so I'm not really proud about this chapter... But anyways, onto the chapter!**

As the Second Shinobi World War was coming to a halt, much to everyone's relief in Konoha, many, if not most, of the shinobi partaking the battle had finally gone home to reunite with their families. Sakumo, for one, with almost a three-week separation from Kakashi, came home just in time for the Academy Entrance Exams.

Much to Kakashi's relief, Sakumo only sustained minor injuries that would heal up easily. As much as Kakashi didn't want to admit it, he had missed his father and had been constantly worried for him.

Now, perched on his father's shoulders, Kakashi dismissed the beautiful morning of Konoha in favor for playing with his father's small ponytail, or "back beard," as Sakumo would like to call it because ponytails sounded too feminine in his opinion.

Kakashi pursed his lips from behind his mask in curiosity. He always did wonder why his father kept his hair in a ponytail. Whenever Kakashi had tried to convince Sakumo to just cut it off, Sakumo would wave his hand, never budging in the slightest.

The curiosity became too overwhelming for the boy, and finally induced him to ask his father. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?" Sakumo was lightly astounded. It was rare for Kakashi to start a conversation with him. Kakashi was a very independent boy for his age, and in most cases only talked when others asked him something—not the other way around.

"Why do you keep your hair long?"

This was a new question for Sakumo. Even though Kakashi would occasionally ask about his hair, Kakashi would only ask for Sakumo to cut it, not why Sakumo kept it long. The older of the two cleared his throat and replied, "Well…"

Kakashi, who was on his shoulders, eagerly awaited the answer, holding his breath.

"I keep my hair long because I want to. That's all there to it."

Kakashi deflated in disappointment. Of course that would be the answer. The young boy had always thought his father as amazing, so he had thought that the reason for Sakumo's hair preference would have some important reason to it.

Sakumo continued down the dirt road, keeping a complete poker face. He didn't want to tell Kakashi that his reason for his long hair was for losing a bet. The father inwardly sighed. The bet was with Kakashi's late mother, stating that if Kakashi were a girl, Sakumo would win, and vice-versa. In his case, Sakumo lost, and in his wife's early demise, Sakumo didn't have the heart to cut his small ponytail.

To lighten the mood, Sakumo said, "Hey, isn't that Dai-san and his son... Was it Gai-kun?" Sakumo chuckled wholeheartedly when he saw both the father-son duo train with each other.

Kakashi groaned, "Look, _Dad_. We don't have time for chit-chat right now."

"Relax, Boy. It doesn't hurt to be friendly."

"I don't want to be late again for my first day of class because of you."

"And look, we're thirty minutes early. I'm pretty sure we have a little time to chit-chat." Sakumo headed towards Dai.

"Thirty minuets my as-" Before the boy could finish saying the last word, the older of the two put Kakashi down from his shoulders and scrunched up his eyes in both agony and anger. Agony because Kakashi was turning into a foul-mouthed ungentleman, and anger because Kakashi was actually swearing at him.

Sakumo miraculously maintained a quiet voice, slowly saying, "Now, Kashi-chan, who taught you that language?"

Kakashi answered cautiously, "You."

Sakumo frowned. "Now, who do you think you're accusing?"

"It's true! Remember the Chunin Exams?"

Sakumo widened his eyes. _"Get off your a** and beat them!"_ This was one of his lines he used as motivation for a Konoha boy against a Suna boy in the Chunin exams four years back.

The father laughed incredulously. Sakumo couldn't believe he said that in front of his son. "How the heck do you remember that, Kashi? That was four years ago for crying out loud! You were only two!"

It was now Kakashi's turn to glare at his father. "I just do."

"Fine morning, isn't it?" Dai said jollily, casually approaching the father and son duo.

Kakashi groaned. Gai and his father just had to come to them. Sakumo flashed a smile to the pair, masterfully hiding his conflict with Kakashi, and replied, "It sure is. Say, is your kid also attending class today? Maybe he and Kashi can become friends-"

Dai cut in. "I'm afraid not, Sakumo my friend."

Sakumo was in shock. Was Dai always as unmotivated to Gai like this?

Kakashi chuckled next to Sakumo and explained for Dai. "Gai failed this year's Entrance Exam. It would take a miracle for him to even attend class.

Sakumo scratched the back of his head and reasoned. "Because you two were in front of the Academy... I thought..."

Dai erupted in laughter once again. "No, no! That makes perfect sense!"

"Is that really something you should be laughing about?" Kakashi crossed his arms, directing his lazy glare to Gai's father.

Sakumo widened his eyes and sharply barked, "How rude! I didn't raise you to be like this, Kashi!"

Kakashi ignored his father. "Why would this kid even take the exams? He has no talent for ninjutsu. He only got in last year cause having chakra wasn't a requirement." He looked at his dad. "If we don't go now, we're going to be late dad."

Sakumo sighed and grudgingly agreed with Kakashi. He bowed his head in apology to Dai and Gai.

"Your name's Hatake Kakashi, right?" Kakashi looked back at Gai. Gai got in his good guy pose and flashed a pearly white smile. "Thank you for cheering me on!"

"Haah?" Kakashi knitted his eyebrows. Dai proudly patted his son on the head, and they were off.

Sakumo crouched so that he was head to head with Kakashi. "Look, Kashi, just because Gai-kun isn't in class today, doesn't mean he won't be in class tomorrow." Sakumo patted his son's head. "Don't get too bigheaded either that you begin to slack in enhancing your abilities, Kashi. Maybe, one day, Gai-kun will surpass even you."

Kakashi frowned. He hated his father's morals and scolds.

"If I'm correct, the waiting list isn't posted yet, right?" Sakumo got up. "The Academy isn't blind either..." He held Kakashi's hand and led the toddler to the Academy gates. "You'd do best if you remember Gai-kun's name. He would make a great rival..."

* * *

_Three Days Earlier_

Naruto's face scrunched up at the sight of her ramen bowl. She attended to one of the green stools in Ichiraku Ramen while being accompanied by the other customers. The blond Jinchuuriki placed a steady hand on one of the bamboo chopsticks on the stand's table, but receded her hand from touching the sticks.

However, after her last bit of willpower dropped, Naruto took a handful of chopsticks and carelessly slathered them on the table's flat surface, not caring who would see her.

Teuchi, pulling some noodles across Naruto looked puzzlingly at the said blond. "Naruto-san, would you mind if I asked if there is something bothering you?"

Naruto recognized the voice's owner to be and stopped. She sighed and answered the ramen shop owner while she still cast her actions, "It's just a habit of mine I created soon after this war started," Naruto picked up the thin sticks and neatly put them straight, horizontally across the surface. "When I get anxious or nervous, I tend to clean up. And if there isn't any mess, then I'll make one and then clean that mess up." She took each chopstick pair, one at a time and placed them back in their cylinder container.

Teuchi nodded as stopped pulling noodles and placed them inside a white, porcelain bowl. "It's only normal, I would say," Teuchi mixed in some spices inside the broth. "The war makes everyone delirious and anxious. It's only natural for humans to cope around a mess and adapt to it. In your case, Naruto-san, cleaning helps you."

After Naruto finished tidying up, she looked at Teuchi and got in a comfortable position on the couch. "Yeah, but this stuff only happens when I'm extremely frustrated. Thought I had gotten rid of this bad habit after not using it for so long. Maybe I jinxed it." She jokingly said with a foxy smile.

"And you're extremely frustrated because of what?"

"Frustrated because of, I don't know if you know this, but, the Academy Entrance Exam. Its gonna start an hour from now," Naruto answered and stood back up as she was reminded of the dreaded entrance exam once again. However, before she was able to grab another bundle of chopsticks, Teuchi spoke in time to stop her.

"There should be nothing to be afraid about, Naruto-san. If I'm not mistaken, you were in Iwa a couple months back. You know their abilities." He paused for a second and remembered that Naruto had just become a teacher a little less then a month ago.

The first day Naruto became a teacher was also the day she came to Ichiraku Ramen a second time. Ever since that day, Naruto came to the ramen stand at least three times a week.

"As thoughtful and encouraging as you sound, you have to place yourself into my shoes." Naruto remembered her final exam and Mizuki. Although this exam was just the entrance exam, Naruto still felt anxious when exams were brought up. Through her final exam, which she didn't pass traditionally, she felt like she shouldn't be one to judge which students should become next year's batch of shinobi-to-be.

It would be only hypocrisy for her to do so. The Academy, as much as it held beautiful memories, was a sore subject for Naruto as the Academy symbolized how she was the bane of the villagers in Konoha. This was one of the many reasons Naruto hadn't wanted to teach.

"I guess you're correct, Naruto-san. If only one can put themselves in other's shoes." Teuchi poured chicken broth inside a bowl and garnished it with chicken and vegetables. "Hmm, I once heard from a drunken shinobi sensei one night that golden rule in teaching young shinobi." Teuchi frowned,"If I remember correctly I think that shinobi said not to be... flexible! oh yes, it was not to be flexible because you're teaching assassins and seduc-"

"Seductress!" Naruto bottomed her fisted hand in her palm. Customers next to her looked at Naruto weirdly.

"Yes, seductress. I don't know if this golden rule is real or anything, but I hope this helps."

Assassins and seductress. Two very different occupations that serve two different genders. Naruto knew that during this time, there was served sexism. Kunoichi were seductress and shinobi were taught the art of assassination. If they were bad at their occupation, they were killed without a second chance.

Although sexism still took place back in Naruto's timeline, it was never as bad as the current timeline.

Naruto's body shifted into a calmer stance. "Thank you, Teuchi-san and your brain! Why are you so wise? That really helped!"

Teuchi smiled,"I'm only a simple ramen maker."

She looked at the stand's clock and cursed,"Sorry, but I'm gonna have to leave now. Bye!" She put the given amount of money on the table and left.

Teuchi chuckled and resumed pulling ramen noodles.

* * *

_The Entrance Exam_

Naruto got into her seat. It was finally the last stage in the Entrance Exam. The students were to properly create a henge and create three E-ranked clones. The blonde frowned. The Entrance Exam for second year students was the same as her graduation exams.

Remembering her failure in the Final exams, the blonde sighed in anxiety. She reached for a bundle of pencils, but stopped herself. Naruto sighed in relief when another teacher was in the room helping her test the would-be students.

"Hello, I'm Naruto."

The teacher next to Naruto returned the greeting,"Hello, Naruto-sensei, I'm Hiroshi."

After formally greeting the teacher, Naruto looked at her clipboard in which shows the students attending the exam. In all, there were about fifty children, and only about half will sit inside the Academy class rooms. The children will be judged on their taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. This part of the exam was to test the children on their ninjutsu.

Naruto cursed mentally,"It's starting. Lets get this over with, Naruto."

Naruto announced the first name. "Akiko Hana!"

Hana came from the door, looking nervously at the girl. Naruto ordered her to create a henge of herself (Naruto) and then create three clones. Hana did so successfully, causing Naruto to brighten up.

"Good job, Hana! That was perfect!" Naruto praised. "After everyone is done with this part of the exam, results will be posted on the chalk board." Hana nodded and walked out with more confidence than when she came inside the room.

More students were called in, and most did this part of the exam perfectly. Judging the exam turned out more easier than what Naruto expected, athough seeing the downcast faces of the children made Naruto sick to the stomach.

The next student that came in was Kakashi. Naruto looked at the child who was ironically fourteen years younger than her. Naruto looked at the boy, in interest of what the outcome may be, "Make a perfect henge of me and create three perfect clones." Naruto spoke tensely, though not without making sure to have a bit of authority in her voice.

Without even looking at the teachers, Kakashi created a perfect henge of Naruto and made three perfect _Shadow_ Clones. He then walked out of the room without anyone's consent.

Naruto shook her head. How much Kakashi has changed in the future was still a mystery to her.

Hiroshi complimented the boy, "What amazing abilities that Hatake Kakashi has."

Naruto shook her head in dissent. "He was just being cocky."

The next few students came in and out, boring Naruto as she had already tested twenty-three students in all. The blond didn't even bother to look at the clipboard of next students' names when she said, "Next!" Naruto started to hate the word as it was becoming very repetitive.

However, who came in soon interested Naruto—it was a younger version of Gai. This Gai, however, looked more unyouthful than what he would become in the future. He had a frown on his face, drawing out premature wrinkles.

Breathing in, she told Gai what to do. Then, it hit Naruto. Gai wouldn't pass this year's Entrance Exam. She looked wearily at the boy clad in a forest green skintight body suit and felt pity for the boy.

Gai bitterly went through a few hand signs and shouted, "Bunshin no jutsu!", but not even a whiff of smoke appeared around the child. Heartbroken at his failure, hung his head and trotted out to the exit.

Naruto stood up suddenly, startling the teacher next to her. "Wait, Gai!" She held her breath, wondering if the young boy would halt and listen to her. To Naruto's relief Gai stopped, showing his back to both teachers in the room.

Naruto settled down in her seat once again, signing in relief. "Gai, remember to never stop trying. Don't let this exam fool you into thinking this is your limit. I know you meet all the requirements needed to enter this Academy. And from the looks of it, all you need is a little push in the right direction and everyone will regret underestimating you."

Gai turned around to face the two teachers with thick pools of tears dramatically coming down his face. Naruto sweat dropped, reminiscing The Green Beasts of Konoha. Gai wiped his tears, and mumbled a "thank you." Naruto smiled and dismissed him.

"How very nice of you, Naruto-sensei."

"I just have a feeling in my heart that he will surpass even his own dreams, Hiroshi-sensei." She quietly, but firmly, spoke her mind.

Hirsoshi raised his eyebrows. "And why is that?"

Naruto quoted a line Gai and Lee would come to use very often. "Because he has the Springtime of Youth inside of him." She laughed as Hiroshi looked incredulously at her.

"Yeah," Hiroshi stretched the word. "But, Gai-kun has a talent in taijutsu." He took a look at Naruto clipboard and saw Gai's skill set. "Actually, he has the best score in taijutsu, surpassing even Kakashi."

Naruto smiled. "Why don't we put him on the waiting list, then?"

Hiroshi took out a small sticky note and added Gai's name to it. "Yeah, I was thinking the same. Now, all we have to do is test the next thirty or so students."

The blond groaned irritably and called out the next name.

* * *

_Present Day_

Naruto sighed. She remembered her early Academy days and how she hated them. It's ironic now that she became a teacher. Naruto walked up in from of her classroom and greeted the children.

She frowned when there was not a single reply. "Why are you guys so quiet?"

No one answered her. Naruto looked at the two female students she confronted the first day she became a teacher. Two girls noticed Naruto's stare and broke eye contact with her immediately, staring down at their tables.

Naruto widened her eyes in realization. The students feared her! She mentally laughed. First impressions really do count. She only taught for a week, and the children were already scared of her. If only Iruka could see her right now, his jaw would drop to the floor.

Naruto looked at the curriculum paper, given to her by the Hokage, and she raised a brow. "Kunai wielding, huh?" She brushed her hair backwards with her hand.

"Okay class," the blond looked across the class and Gai was nowhere to be spotted. She still held her head up. "get up and let's go down to the fields."

Once everyone got down the fields, Naruto ordered the children to sit down on the ground. She held the class's attention to her as she said, "To hold a kunai, one must grasp the weapon on its handle. Be sure not to touch the bladed edge of the kunai."

Naruto held the kunai in a basic position. "This is one position..." She hugged her hand on the blunt side of the kunai. She then put her thumb to the kunai's hole. "This hole is used to reinforce your grip on the kunai." Naruto swiftly slashed professionally on a straw dummy in front of her, effectively cutting the dummy in half.

"Even with a blade so short, the kunai is very effective in shinobi's and kunoichi's everyday use." She shifted the kunai's position by putting her pinky on the hole. "Now this position is used to strike upwards on an opponent. Different positions," she said as she shifted its position once again, placing her index finger through the hole, "means different attack positions too." She slashed sideways on another dummy.

"Any questions?" Naruto saw a hand raised. "Yes Obito?"

"That was so cool, Sensei!" He exclaimed, eyes literally sparkling at her performance.

"Thank you for the compliment, but that wasn't really a question."

Obito quickly added, "Will we learn how to throw the kunai today, Sensei?"

Naruto shook her head. "No, Obito."

"Aww-"

"Why don't you just shut up and grow up, Dobe?" Kakashi said with crossed arms. He rolled his eyes at Obito's outlandish and annoying behavior.

"What was that, Kakashi?!" Anger flooded into Obito's face as he balled his fists until they turned pale. Obito stood from his seat and stomped to where Kakashi was at.

Kakashi, in turn, stood up himself, and was face to face with Obito when he shouted, "I said shut-"

"Kakashi! Obito!" The two clamped their mouths shut at their teacher's voice. "You both are acting childish."

Kakashi tch-ed while Obito humph-ed.

Naruto shook her head. "Look, I know you both are still academy students, but you guys have to take a stand. No shinobi would explode as easily as you both during a mission unless they want to commit suicide." Her azure eyes softened. "Look, and this goes to everyone. You guys better take this profession seriously. Just because you're children doesn't mean that enemy shinobi won't strike their kunai on you."

"As a matter of fact, it's quite the opposite," She walked to a table that was already preset on the field." Enemy shinobi will strike you down without hesitation. They'll prematurely kill you just so they won't reap the consequences for when you'll be old enough to kill _them_." She took a box on top of the table and opened it, smelling the fresh scent of wood. Taking the box, she manually handed what was inside the box—kunais—and gave one to each student.

Some of the children gave Naruto an incredulous stare, not believing what they were hearing. Naruto frowned. It almost broke her heart to break some of these children's naivety. "I'll tell you now. Once you get out of this village, you'll see things you may not want to believe—especially during a war."

Naruto hooded her eyes halfway, and when she gave the kid a kunai, she solemnly disclosed, "So if you're here because there a boy or girl you like that's in this class or you're here to brag about being a shinobi, then this isn't the class for you."

The class stayed deathly silent. Some were in shock, never having heard of the hardships of being a shinobi. Others were neutral, already knowing the consequences through their shinobi families.

Naruto relaxed her face and felt a pang of guilt. It was good that she told the children what true reality was. She didn't want any innocent children dying because of their naivety. But however sad it was, there was a class to be led, and so she decided to change the gloomy atmosphere.

"Now, what we will do is get into five even lines in front of these straw dummies. I will time each of you two minuets to cut off a limb from the dummy. When the alarm rings, I want the front people to get to the back of the line so that the next person can have a chance to use the kunai." Naruto shut her eyes tightly, then opened them again to face the ocean of children in front of her.

As much as she hated to say it, Naruto announced, "By the end of the week, you guys will be taking a test on this. All you need to do is cut a limb off of the dummy. If you can't, then you'll be getting a zero!" Naruto never thought she would be the one to say that the students were going to take a test. "You may begin now!"

Naruto sighed. She placed a flat hand over her eyes, effectively blocking out the August sun. Heat radiated off Naruto's skin, causing Naruto to roll up her navy blue sleeves.

"Sensei!"

"Huh?" Naruto looked back at her students and ran to where the problem was. "What's going on?" She didn't see anyone injured, only piles of shredded straw sparred on the grassy floor.

The same student who called Naruto had a frown on his face, almost as if he regretted calling the teacher. "What happened?" Naruto said carefully, coaxing the student to spill out what had happened before.

The student looked back to his fellow classmates, who also looked at him with pleading eyes. Naruto noticed this and slowly said, "It's okay. If you're ready to tell me, then I'll be right here."

"Umm well," he said timidly, looking down at the ground, "we all just need help on trying to cut off the limb of th-the straw dummy."

Naruto widened her eyes and apologized with a small smile on her face as she scratched the back of her neck. She walked to the kunai box and took out a spare kunai and held it with index finger in its hole.

"It's much harder than it looks right?" She slashed the dummy horizontally. "All of you need to gain more strength. However, you also need grace." She made another incision, this time vertically, effectively cutting the dummy in half again. "The only advice I could give you all is to practice at home on a tree. If you can successfully make an indent of at least four inches, then you're ready to cut this," she motioned to the straw dummy, "with more ease."

The teacher smiled, "Now, did everyone take a turn?"

A girl shook her head as she pointed to Kakashi. Naruto frowned and thanked the girl for her cooperation. "Kakashi, come here." Kakashi sighed and walked to her.

Naruto stared down at him with a frown. She crossed her arms and told Kakashi,"Why aren't you cooperating, Kakashi?"

Kakashi stared at her with both of his navy blue eyes, a new feature to Naruto. The younger boy muttered, "I already know how to do this."

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's face. This Kakashi reminded her of Sasuke. She opened her mouth to say something but cut herself off by putting a hand under her chin. She didn't know how to talk to this Kakashi. It was the same for everyone she already knew in the future like the Hokage and even her own mother, Kushina.

"Okay, look, Kakashi."

"Yes, woman in the supermarket?"

Naruto barely held back a groan. What an annoying little brat Kakashi was. She grunted and took a deep breath. "Look, Kakashi. I don't care how good at something you are. It doesn't change the fact that you're a part of this class." Naruto felt uncomfortable. It was weird teaching and scolding Kakashi. "Now show me what you've got, boy." She handed him a kunai.

Kakashi frowned and glared at the ground, almost feeling shameful and embarrassed from his past actions, "Fine, Sensei."

Naruto smiled proudly and slapped Kakashi's back. "Good!"

Kakashi stumbled forward, but regained his footing and ran to a straw dummy, cutting it cleanly in half.

Naruto loudly clapped once, gathering the attention of the children. She smiled to her students and told the class, "Okay guys! It's lunchtime!"

* * *

After class was dismissed, Naruto sighed to herself and said, "What a doting father you are, Hatake-san."

Sakumo came from an outside window. He scratched the back of his neck and smiled in greeting. "Long time no see, Naruto-sensei."

Naruto hummed, acknowledging his presence, as she was reading the second year's curriculum paper. "Wow," she widened her eyes slightly, "the curriculum is very advanced."

Sakumo nodded, finally taking a seat in front of Naruto's desk. "Well, of course. Especially with times as hard as this, we as humans need to adapt."

The blond sighed, rubbing her head. "What were you doing here all day?"

"All day?" Sakumo stared at her for a few seconds before putting his hands up in submission when Naruto glared at him. "Okay, okay, you caught me. I was just here to observe Kakashi and how he is at school."

"Do you really have that much time on your hands?" Naruto laughed at his short-lived glare.

The elder Hatake sighed. "Well, as you know, Kashi..."

"Kakashi isn't very cooperative during class unless I tell him to do so." Naruto finished the sentence for him. "Look, Hatake-san. Just like every child, what Kakashi needs is a slight push in the right direction." Naruto took a bowl of nuts from her desk and plopped some in her mouth.

Sakumo raised a brow and reached out for an almond. "Yes, but this morning- Ow!" Sakumo cradled his stinging hand from a glaring Naruto. "Why'd you do that, Woman!?"

"You're not supposed to eat my almonds, cause they were made exclusively and were totally overpriced." She protectively shielded the bowl from the man.

Sakumo hissed. "Well? How was I supposed to know? Nuts are a finger food! I thou-"

"Shhhh!" Naruto hissed back. "There's a teacher meeting four doors away next to this one."

"Then why aren't you there?"

"Cause I don't like boring meetings, and that's all there to it, dattebayo."

Sakumo used his inside voice again,"Suuureee." Naruto glared at his sarcasm. "But as I was saying, this morning, Kakashi showed unacceptable behavior."

"And what can that be?" Naruto inquired as she munched her almonds.

"Kakashi said a bad word to me." Sakumo said depressingly. He took a deep breath and gave an elongated sigh. "And what's the worst is that I was the one who taught him."

Naruto furrowed her brows and yawned. She tapped her fingers on the wooden teacher's desk and said, "Well, I don't know if I can help you on that one. When a child is influenced, it's going to be very hard to break it." The teacher stopped her tapping and got up to clean the erasers.

"By the way, speaking of habits, did you know that you can break a habit if you stop yourself from doing it for at least ten days?" Naruto finished dusting her erasers and sat back down on her leather seat.

Naruto rolled her eyes when she saw Sakumo's helpless look, "Well, that was irrelevant, but, Kakashi is a very complicated kid. You would only know what's going on when you ask him directly."

"That's true. This morning, he also talked bad about this kid called Gai for not passing the exam right in front of his face." Sakumo sighed. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Just before this morning, Kashi was acting better before, even starting our conversation first. Maybe if only his mother were still here..."

He drifted off, leaving Naruto to stare at him. She shoved her bowl of almonds in front of Sakumo and said, "Do you want one? They're slow roasted and covered in chili powder."

Sakumo looked at her and cautiously took an almond, checking if Naruto were to smack his hand again. Naruto rolled her eyes and set the bowl down. The silver-headed jounin gave a quick thank you to the blond.

"Speaking of Gai-"

"So you know him?"

"Yes. And..." Naruto reached out for a paper in her desk, "and if any of the students quit for any reason," Naruto showed Sakumo the paper, "Gai will be the first one in the waiting list to be in the class." She flashed him a foxy grin as he stared at the paper.

"I knew it!" Sakumo announced.

Naruto nodded her head. "Yup, this paper will be posted tomorrow first thing. And now," Naruto looked at the sun from the window, "it should be about a quarter till five." Naruto got up and put her belongings in a seal in her arm. "It's been great seeing you a second time Hatake-san, but I'm hungry right now and I want to eat and I also have children to feed, sooo..."

Sakumo got up and gave her a lazy two-finger salute. "Yeah, yeah, Naruto-sensei, I get the gist. Anyways, I think Kakashi's already home by now and I don't want to keep him waiting for too long. See you soon!" And with that, Sakumo body flickered out of the room, leaving a trail of green leaves.

Naruto sighed. "Just like Kakashi-sensei." Maybe that was why it was so easy to speak to Sakumo. The blond looked at the trail of leaves on the floor and cursed the Hatake for making her clean up after him.

* * *

"Mmm, smells delicious, Teuchi-san," Naruto greedily smelled the ramen's aroma. She quickly ate the chewy noodles and drank its broth, finally finishing her meal. "I'll take three more to-go."

Teuchi smiled warmly and prepared to package the order.

Naruto patiently waited for the bowls to come, wondering whether she should eat another bowl before she left for her house. Just as she was about to order again, someone tapped her on the shoulder, making the woman turn from her seat.

When Naruto saw who it was, the familiar face smiled in greeting. Said familiar person also grabbed Naruto by the arm and turned her around to face the ramen stand. "Naruto-san, right?"

Naruto's throat ran dry, causing her to stammer her words. "He-hello?" Naruto pretended to forget the girl's name.

"Remember? We met over four months ago right here." The girl positioned her green, standing-out hair clip on her flaming-red hair. "I've always had a good memory, 'tbane. But if it's the opposite for you, Naruto-san, I'll introduce myself one more time!"

The eccentric girl pointed a thumb to herself and cheerily said, "The name's Uzumaki Kushina! Remember it cause one day I'll become the next Hokage!"

**A/N: I think everyone can agree with me that in this chapter, Kakashi was acting like a comple shart. Like seriously, I admire Gai for keeping up with Kakashi ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)? Anyways, I got a lot of info about the Academy from NarutoWikia, and I'll be showing more of it later on in the story. Y'all better have a nice day!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Hey guys, here's the new chapter of Unknown! Hope you guys will enjoy!

The eccentric girl pointed a thumb to herself and cheerily said, "The name's Kushina! Remember it cause one day I'll become the next Hokage!"

Naruto forced out a smile. "That's... interesting." The blond Uzumaki took one step backwards, awkwardly shuffling her hands behind her until she found a stool to sit on.

Kushina took the stool next to Naruto and told the older of the two, "The ramen's just heavenly here, right?" Kushina didn't wait for an answer, quickly saying, "Of course it is, 'tebane! You would be crazy if you said otherwise!"

"Naruto-san! Your to-go order's are ready!" Teuchi yelled out, alerting Naruto. Naruto paid the man and took her order.

The woman bowed her head down to Teuchi and Kushina, quickly saying, "I'm sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush Kushina-chan, Teuchi-san." She flashed a small smile to Kushina, "And the ramen's heavenly!" and she left.

After Naruto left, Kushina let out a disappointed sigh. "Do you think Naruto is an introvert?" The redhead wasn't really much of the type of person who put honorifics before anyone's names.

"An introvert?!" Teuchi let out a hearty laugh. "That Naruto is anything but." The ramen maker once saw Naruto bring three children with her, and Naruto acted even more lively than Kushina, which was surprising to say at the least.

"Then if that's not the problem, do you think Naruto is avoiding me?" She shook her head rapidly. "No, I mean- you know how she is new and all in Konoha? I feel for her, cause I know how it feels like to be new and all to some new place. It's- it's culture... culture shock! Yeah, 'tebane!"

Teuchi chuckled. "You've only met the woman twice, Kiddo. Try again another time to talk to Naruto-san." He placed a hand on Kushina's hair and sloppily messed it up.

Kushina growled, "Yeah, yeah, Old Man. Now give me a bowl of miso, or else you're losing a customer, 'tebane!"

* * *

"Here, you guys. Go eat," Naruto gave Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko their bowls of ramen. "I already ate my ramen, so I'm going to go to my room. Excuse me," Naruto got out of her chair and pushed it back into the table before anyone could reply.

Walking back to her room, Naruto's mouth was in a thin line. The three children who were on the table looked worryingly at their blond guardian, but decided upon themselves to leave her alone for the time being.

Closing the door behind her, Naruto jumped on her bed successfully without any sound. She turned over so that she was looking straight at the ceiling. She lay there, staring quite intently at the off-white ceiling, suddenly seeing images of her mother.

**"Hey," **a deep voice rumbled from Naruto's head.** "Why do you sound so lethargic?"**

"I'm not in the mood for you right now." Naruto hugged her pillow. When there was no reply from Kurama, Naruto, after minuets of contemplating to herself, called out to her companion, "Hey, Cotton Booty?" There was still no answer. She groaned, "Kurama, I know you hear me."

She could feel the smirk radiating from Kurama's face.** "Yes?"**

"About my mother..."

**"The brat before you?"**

Naruto gave the wall a blank stare. "_Yes._" She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, "I don't know how to approach her."

**"Approach her? Isn't she your mother?"**

"Yes, but she doesn't know the relation between me and her." Naruto hooded her eyes as her mouth was in a thin line once again. "I feel paranoid. I keep thinking that you might disappear if I get near her."

**"Me? Disappear?"**

"Yeah. The Kurama inside of her will merge with you, and I'll be lonely in this, this unknown world where nobody knows my name, my life, who I used to be, me-!" Naruto wiped the tears welling up in her eyes. "You know, sometimes I feel like I don't even know what the hell I'm supposed to do, that my mission was a waste, and I can't do anything to stop what is inevitably going to happen!"

**"How long have you felt this way?"**

Naruto's voice shook. "The first time- it's when I felt Jiji stare at me with foreign eyes." A thin, damp, streak of a tear ran down Naruto face. She didn't bother to wipe it as more tears joined the first. "My own mother doesn't know me."

The nine tailed fox sealed inside Naruto sighed,** "I'm no good in comforting anyone, but I'll tell you one thing—I know you the best."**

Naruto sniffled, "Why do you think I'm scared to get near her? I don't want to lose you too."

**"Look, Naruto. I'm not going anywhere. After going so far, we're not stopping now!" **Kurama glared at the pooling water at his feet.

"How can you be so sure?"

**"I'm not. But, I just know that I won't be departed from you just because of your flimsy paranoia."**

Naruto wiped her eyes. "You think?"

**"I know so,"** Kurama stated in a confident tone.

* * *

"Do you gals know what makeup is?" Naruto took out a makeup pallet from her desk's drawer.

A girl raised her hand. "Isn't that the paint seductresses use on missions?"

"That's right... kind of. But the official textbook meaning is cosmetics such as lipstick or powder applied to the face, used to enhance or alter the appearance." Naruto then took out lipstick and powder out of her desk as another example. "I know you girls are still young, but can I ask if you or anyone you know wears makeup in daily use?"

"Sometimes, I see some pretty girls on the side of the alley wear makeup."

Naruto opened her mouth, but closed it in realization. "Okay," Naruto said awkwardly. "Thank you for your answer, Riko-chan. Anyone else have an example?"

"For special occasions, like festivals, my mom wears light makeup." A girl said after raising her hand.

"Good, good!" The teacher opened the lipstick's cap and put some lipstick on. "As you can see, I'm going to give you girls a tutorial on putting on makeup." Naruto took out a hair brush to brush her hair out of her face. "Now, take out the makeup from your desks and imitate me on how I put my makeup on."

The girls did as told, and by the end of the lesson, everyone looked more mature than before. "Good job, everyone! If I do say so myself, you all did an amazing job! This is your first time doing it, right?"

All girls nodded their heads. Although some girls' makeup smeared, everything looked more than acceptable. Naruto closed up her makeup pallet and told everyone to clean up. After, class was dismissed.

Naruto placed all her things inside a folder, then inside a bag. However, in the middle of cleaning her things, there was a small knock on the window of her classroom. The blond teacher looked at the window, seeing a dark silhouette of a person from the outside.

She flared her chakra, signaling for the person to enter. Naruto recognized the person to be Sakumo, unsurprisingly. "If the office called you to come here, then they would have notified me. So what are you doing here?"

Sakumo feign hurt. "So I need an appointment to see you?"

"What?" Naruto narrowed her eyes at the innuendo.

Sakumo cursed in embarrassment mentally. "Sorry I didn't mean-"

Naruto waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, I get I it." She finished packing and looked at him with a smile on her face. "So did you need anything, Sakumo-san? If not, I'm going to go right now for some late lunch."

Sakumo raised an eyebrow. "Was that an invitation?"

The woman across him hissed, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Hatake."

"Okay, okay, I got it!" He raised both his hands in surrender. "But I am looking forward to food. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

"I didn't ask you to join me, Sakumo-san."

"Whatever, Sensei. And by the way, I'm going by my own reasons. So where are we headed?" He led her by hand to the door.

Naruto rolled her eyes and jerked her hand away from Sakumo's reach. "Just turn off the lights and follow me."

* * *

Sounds of children playing, the usual guitarist playing at the edge of the park, singing songs for some extra change, and the wind blowing on trees, making their leaves chatter. Naruto, who stood beside Sakumo as they walked, asked the older man. "So how's Kakashi?"

"Kashi-chan?" Sakumo scratched his cheek. "If you mean home-Kakashi, he's a bit different."

"Oh?"

Sakumo laughed. "Yeah, I've noticed that when he's around people, he acts more 'cool' and more meanly. But-"

"There's always a 'but'."

"_But_," he continued, "at home, when it's just the two of us, Kashi-chan is a bit more like a child who strives for attention."

"Really?" She laughed loudly at the thought of a clingy Kakashi holding onto Sakumo's pants. In a few moments, her laughter died down into chuckles, which then turned into a warm smile. "But I guess you can't blame him. You are an active shinobi, Sakumo-san."

"Yeah," a sigh escaped Sakumo's lips, "that's why when I got a month leave from duty, I was a bit relieved because I could spend more time with Kashi-chan."

"A month leave? For what?"

Sakumo gave her an incredulous look. "Wait, you don't... _know_?" Naruto still gave him a confused look. "About my mission? The Sandaime didn't inform you?"

There was no answer from Naruto. Sakumo sighed and began explaining quietly to Naruto as they walked to a more secluded part of the pathway. "Do you remember when you first came to Konoha?"

"Of course."

"And your torture by Tozoki-san-"

"Of course," Naruto looked away, ashamed to remember that she got tortured right in front of Sakumo.

Sakumo led Naruto to a park bench in which they both sat on. He patted her shoulder, getting Naruto's attention back. "Well, honestly, the only reason the Sandaime didn't give orders for you to be... spirited away was because you gave aid in helping Konoha win this war."

Naruto frowned, looking distant. "Spirited away, huh?" She felt a stab to her heart when she registered what Sakumo just said. But she sighed and pulled herself out of depression. Breaking down in front of Hatake was not a good idea. "Is that why when I told people that I was the one who attacked Iwa, they were blown away?"

"Yeah," the silver haired nin said almost awkwardly, "But anyway, because of that, you helped shorten this war. And with the mission itself, you saved me from a lot of trouble."

"Trouble? You mean..." Naruto gaped, slowly closing her mouth with her hand in shock. She had just realized that she just saved the Sakumo Hatake from killing himself. Many questions plunged into her head, questions like how Kakashi will grow up to be, what will change in Konoha's future...

"Yup," he said informally, "I was the one who was supposed to destroy those warehouses that were filled with weapons, medical, and food ration storehouses. By not destroying those warehouses, the war could've been prolonged, and inevitably, Iwa would win."

"Weapons, medical, and food rations?" Naruto gave him a confused look. "When I destroyed those warehouses, they _exploded_."

"Exploded?" There was a shocked expression on Sakumo's face. "Then, the Sandaime's limited information was wrong. There must've been explosives stored in those warehouses!" His raise of tone indicated, to Naruto, how severe it would've been to Konoha if she had not destroyed the warehouses.

"They could've used the explosives as a trump card against Konoha."

"Relax, Sakumo. It's all done and over with." She put a hand on Sakumo's arm.

"You're right." After his brief outburst, Sakumo took a few calming breaths and looked at her with a gentle smile. "Oh, and, um…before I forget again, I'd like to thank you for saving my life back then."

"Okay, so thank you for crashing all that important stuff on me," Naruto looked at him with a playful frown. She punched him lightly on the shoulder, "And by the way, it wasn't much." She gave him a mischievous smile and grabbed him by the arm. "But if you want to thank me, you can pay for the lunch today. C'mon, let's go already!"

Sakumo stared at Naruto's back as she dragged him like a rag doll to the unknown restaurant they were going to attend to. He wouldn't lie, Naruto was really attractive, but Sakumo never saw her in that way. To him, she was only an interesting kunoichi who had skills to defeat platoons of ninja without much effort, but was a huge klutz at the same time.

Had she always been this attractive? He thought to himself that maybe it was because he saw Naruto's face so up close...

Because, for the first time, right at that moment, Sakumo unknowingly noticed how beautiful Naruto looked when she smiled.

* * *

"Please! Pleaseeee! I take it back, I take it back! I'm not paying for you anymore!" Sakumo pleaded, bowing so low that his head touched the dirt-filled grounds of Konoha's most famous ramen stand.

"Nu-uh." Naruto waved her chopsticks around in a rejecting manner. "When people pay for me for food, I go all out. I don't even try to be polite and reject this once in a lifetime opportunity." She smirked at him, "I betcha only offered to pay for my ramen, thinking that I would be the typical polite girl and reject it." She laughed hysterically. "No one can stop me, not even the police!" She smirked when she got a light reaction from the "customer" next to her.

Sakumo cried dramatically, looking at his wallet thinning right before his eyes. "I haven't even touched my food, and you're already on your seventh bowl."

Teuchi looked at Naruto with a quizzical look. "That's right, whenever you come here, Naruto-san, you always get one or two bowls at a time." He pinched his chin. "And you would always eat slowly."

Naruto snickered, bringing her hand to her lips. "Yeah, that's cause I need to save money cause I still have three other mouths to feed. If you guys don't know yet, I'll remind you: ramen is-"

"The food of the gods!"

Naruto looked behind her and found who owned the familiar voice. Kushina looked at Naruto with stars in her eyes. The redhead took Naruto's hands and held them in her own. "You think that ramen's the food of the god's too?"

Naruto awkwardly plucked her hands out from Kushina's and looked down on the floor, while her right hand stroked her belly, conscious of the little furball inside. The blond took a deep breath to psych herself up and beamed at Kushina,"Of course I do!"

A smile slowly appeared on Kushina's face, astonishing Naruto at how their smiles looked similar. The blond swallowed the lump that was forming on her throat.

"My name's Kushina, by the way, if you didn't remember, 'tebane! I know your name's Naruto cause that's one of my favorite things in ramen!"

Naruto thinned her lips into a smile, there were butterflies forming inside her stomach. It bothered her so much that Naruto wanted to punch herself in the gut to get rid of her triggering emotions.

"Today, didja know what happened? Well..." Kushina trailed off, talking to Naruto as if she was not a stranger.

"Tomato-chan, Tomato-chan!" Three boys chorused until they stole Kushina's attention away from Naruto.

"What?!" Snarled the redhead. She just had it with people making fun of her that day. "Do you want to get beaten again, huh?"

The boys snickered, sneering at the girl with rude remarks that were not true. "I hear that she's just some loner. She's such a loser, she's not even from Konoha, she's just an outsider..."

Naruto frowned at the boys' behavior to the girl. She recognized them as children from the Academy. Naruto looked at Kushina and saw a Konoha forehead protector on her.

Before Kushina could retort back at the boys, Naruto cut in. "Hey, you boys are the last year bunch right?"

"What's it to you, Lady?"

"If I remember correctly, you boys are still in the Academy?"

One of the boys grunted in agreement, almost like he wanted to deny the proclamation. He probably thought that he was already good enough to be a ninja. Naruto smirked.

"So?" The boy next to him snobbishly shouted.

"I don't see any forehead protectors on you." Naruto sighed before she flipped her hair back. "You shouldn't insult those who are obviously superior to you, especially if those people are active shinobi of the leaf."

The boys glared at Naruto, silently thinking of any comebacks. "So?" The shortest boy said lamely.

The blond repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. "_So_, that isn't the right thing to do to people who risk their lives for you every single day."

Kushina looked at Naruto in awe. For the first time, someone was standing up for her. The redhead smirked at the little kids, and even stuck her tongue out.

"Kushina-chan..." The blonde called her in a disapproving tone.

"Sorry, Naruto," she snuggled back into her stool and unstuck her tongue, but she couldn't stop smiling.

Naruto shook her had at Kushina's actions, then faced the boys once again. "The day I see you graduate from the Academy, that will be the day you learn to respect not just shinobi, but of all people around you. Got it?"

However, despite Naruto's lecture, the boys stuck their tongue back rudely to the pair and left, snickering for what they were worth.

Kushina held her fist in a threatening way, but Naruto stopped her. "They'll learn sooner or better not to mess with anyone like that one day." The blonde amicably pinched her cheek. "Don't take everything to heart either. It'll only make you feel worse."

Kushina laughed cheekily and scratched her cheek embarrassedly.

Sakumo stared at the pair and sighed. "Did you really just forget about me, Naruto-sensei?"

Naruto looked at him. "You just reminded me, Sakumo-san. Teuchi-san, another bowl!" She looked at Kushina,"Do you want one too? Sakumo-san's paying."

"Hey-"

"'Course, 'tebane!" Kushina bowed her head to Sakumo,"Thanks, Mister!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just eat your guy's fill." He sarcastically said, silently wept on his stool.

"Just ignore him, Kushina-chan. It's his fault that this happened to him." Naruto cheekily stated.

"Really?" She waved her hand. "Then, Old Man! Another four bowls, please!"

"Right away!"

Sakumo groaned at the loss of his money.

Naruto wasn't worried about her paranoia anymore. Kurama wasn't going anywhere... and the same went for her mother. Now, all she wanted to do was take advantage of her time traveling situation to learn more about her mother. "So, what's your favorite ramen flavor, Kushina-chan?"

* * *

"You know, I never said that you had to treat me today. You should have just taken me to a different restaurant at a different day or something." Naruto sniggered.

Sakumo glared at her and snapped back, "You should've told me beforehand. And for your information, you're the one who _urged_ me to pay!"

"Oh, grow up, you child in a old man's body!" She laughed boisterously.

"Old?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm only twenty-eight!"

"Yeah right. A twenty-eight-year-old guy with grey hair? That's pretty fishy."

"Grey? It's silver!" He pulled on his hair to make his point. "Sil-ver!"

Naruto shook her head. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Mister."

"You're an insane woman, ya know?"

"I've been told that once or twice in my lifetime." She smirked.

"Don't act cocky about it! It's not something you should be proud of, you insane woman!"

Naruto snickered. "You're funny, Sakumo-san. Actually, the first time I met you, I though you would be the serious type. Turns out, actually, that you're the sissy type."

Sakumo rolled his eyes. "Your words hurt me, Sensei."

She stopped laughing and settled for a soft smile. Sakumo unknowingly stared at her face.

The kunoichi glanced at the setting sun and wistfully said, "It's already six, huh."

"Yeah," Sakumo scratched the back of his head. He grabbed one of Naruto's takeout ramen bags, "Here, lemme help you with that. Do you want me to walk you home?"

Naruto took the bag back from Sakumo's hand. "Naw it's fine. I won't get lost."

"No, that's-"

"G'night, Sakumo-san!" She waved her hand and began walking to her apartment.

He smiled and put his hands to his hips. "Fine then, but next time, you're payin, Sensei!"

A shrill and embarrassed shout came from Naruto, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Hatake!"

Sakumo snickered and turned his back the other way and started to walk back home.

* * *

"Hokage-sama," Uchiha Karou bowed before his leader.

"Stand." Sarutobi Hiruzen commanded his subordinate. "It has been over five months since Naruto-san resided in Konoha, Sir."

"Hmm, you're right. Anything?"

"So far, there is nothing suspicious about the girl, Sir." Karou frowned. "Although, there were a number of times my policemen reported that they have felt that Naruto-san knew that we were on to her."

"They felt or they knew?"

"They felt, Sir. To be honest, Sir, I felt something powerful within Naruto-san one time when I was the one following her." He swallowed dryly at the memory. "It felt ominous."

Hiruzen sighed. It must have been Naruto's bijuu chakra that she explained to him. "That's good, Karou. Tell that to your men, also."

"Yes, Sir," Karou knitted his brows together, "but may I ask you one thing?"

"What is it?"

The younger man hesitated. "I was wondering why you have a teaching job to Naruto-san. What if-"

He was cut off by Hiruzen's chuckles. "Sorry, Karou. I knew you were going to say that." He readjusted the pipe hanging on his mouth. "The reason why I ordered Naruto to teach was because one, we were really short on teachers, and two, to keep a close eye on her. That way, we would be able to know where she is for half the day. I knew you and your men would keep an eye the girl, so I knew that no children would ever get hurt in any way by, if it ever happens, Naruto's hand."

Karou was touched. The Hokage just implied that he trusted him and his men. "Thank you, Hokage-sama. It's an honor."

Karou noticed his Hokage seemed much more happier than before now that the was was ending shortly. Karou, himself, had similar feelings.

"Yes, yes. You're dismissed now, Karou."

"I give you my farewell, Hokage-sama." He gave one last bow and left the office.

* * *

It was the next morning Hiruzen was informed of the forthcomings of his students. A small, tan toad with black spots on it's back was presented of top of Hiruzen's paperwork. The Hokage stared down at the small creature until it threw up a small note written in Jiraiya's handwriting.

Hiruzen gulped, worried about his students. What could have happened?

He unsealed the small note and read through it once to understand. It read:

_Please send reinforcements to Ame._

_Hanzo attacked again_

_Army twice as big_

_There's only a little bit of time left_

_Help army headed towards Konoha_

_Betrayer of Konoha_

The Hokage was in shock. He wouldn't think that Hanzo would actually head towards Konoha. That would be suicide! Anyway, if Ame were to come, it would only take the army two days to get there.

He sat down on his chair. There would be need of immediate evacuation of the villagers. All Shinobi present in the village needed to get ready for battle.

"ANBU!" All ANBU present in the room appeared. "Call for an immediate meeting for all shinobi! There no time left! Hurry!" The ANBU all shunshined away, leaving the Hokage to ponder more about the note.

For all the note stated, all Hiruzen could think about the last line. Betrayer of Konoha. Who could that be?

However, as he kept thinking about it, the aging leader could only have one suspect on line: Naruto.


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! It's been a super long time sice I've updated, so I'm giving you guys a longer chapter. Im not so proud of this chapter, though, beause I kinda rushed it. Enjoy!**

Warning bells sounded everywhere throughout Konoha, causing distress to both civilians and shinobi alike. Everything was getting out of hand, causing great stress for the Sandaime. He wouldn't think that Ame would actually attempt to march through Konoha's gates.

The Sandaime cursed his naivety. Why would he believe that Hanzo would back down from the war just by giving his students a title? He clenched his fists, slamming them onto his stacks of paper.

The Sandaime, who thought the war would be over in a couple of months, had fallen so low that he, with that mindset, was vulnerable to Hanzo. Hiruzen groaned in agony as he himself was to blame for this unfortunate outcome.

How did Hanzo have enough men that would be three times greater in size than before? It astounded and worried Hiruzen at the same time. From what he saw, Ame was a small and poor country, haggard with war.

Maybe the men Hanzo would bring were more in quantity and less in quality. However, even if that were the case, Konoha would still lose a lot of its force. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if that weren't the case.

_Betrayer of Konoha._

Betrayer to what exactly? From the scribbled handwriting of Jiraiya, Hiruzen concluded that Jiraiya was in a rush or possibly in danger when sending the message. However, his white-haired student wasn't specific enough to say what the betrayer acted upon to actuallybetray Konoha.

But, despite the brief note, a betrayer was a betrayer, and that wasn't tolerable in Hiruzen's book.

Again, the simple line rang into the Sandaime's ears like a bell. Naruto. Hiruzen cocooned his face with his hands as a sign of distress. What could she have obtained to help weaken Konoha into thinking that the war would be over soon? What if her attack on Iwa was just a farce to open Konoha's weakness, letting Ame take the tide of the war, and (Konoha) to be soon-to-be defeated? The idea seemed too far-fetched and complex, though.

The aging leader rubbed his head in frustration. He was acting irrationally, going as far as to blame Naruto, a new citizen of Konoha, just because she previously had ties with Amegakure. He couldn't just jump to conclusions as easily as he did, for his title of Hokage would be in jeopardy.

He thought deeply. Naruto had already declared before that she lived on one of the small islands of Ame, not the main one, where Hanzo lead strictly. Hiruzen pinched his goatee in thought, briefly thinking what he would do if he was Naruto, a battle-hardened warrior who came from a foreign country, starting anew, and living in the fear of one day being a scapegoat to Konoha if Ame were to ever attack.

But if Naruto were the culprit, then Konoha would be in grave danger. A strong opponent like Naruto would be difficult to deal with. With her amazing prowess, there would be no doubt in mind that she could annihilate a village.

He took a whiff of his pipe until it hit him. Ame wanted territory. He froze with eyes as grave as death. The reason that the Second Shinobi World War started was because of the five major hidden villages wanting to obtain territory by force and manpower.

The Sandaime gulped unconsciously, feeling as if his blood ran cold. He chuckled darkly at the realization. "Hanzo, you scheming salamander."

If Hanzo were to just give his whole country from a decree, like before, then everything would have been too easy. How could Hiruzen be fooled that by making his students keep the title, the Sannins, Ame would back down completely?

In a flurry of movements, Hiruzen ran from his quarters and went to the vault, where he took out the decree given by Hanzo. He stared at it, looking at the crest stamped in blood, then slammed it on the desk, causing more papers to fly.

He contemplated how Hanzo would attack Konoha. Hanzo knew better than to make a frontal attack on such a powerful hidden village, which brought him to the conclusion that there was more that just an army marching down to Konoha. What if troops were already on Konoha's boarders? An inside attack—however, this was impossible because the attacker would be detected foreign right away, unless the person had been among the citizens of Konoha for so long to be trusted...

Six months... It's been six months since Naruto resided in Konoha—long enough to be trusted. To make matters worse, Naruto knew that the Uchiha were tailing her. Hiruzen couldn't take caution anymore, but make action. "ANBU! Go tail Naruto-san without being noticed, and if she tries to do anything that could possibly harm Konoha, then stop her at all costs!"

* * *

Naruto recognized the loud, buzzing alarms as warning bells, signaling to every man, woman, and child to head to a safe area. She gave a grim look to Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko, mouthing out the words, "Let's go!"

"Nee-san! What's going on?" Nagato questioned with fear embedded in his eyes. He grabbed onto Naruto's hand.

"They're warning bells signaling that there'll be an incoming attack," she said as calmly as possible.

"An attack in Konoha?" Konan worriedly repeated, covering her mouth with a trembling hand.

All three children had identical looks on their faces, all traumatized from when they experienced the tragedy and harshness of the war that took place in Ame. "It's okay, guys. Before anyone or anything can touch even one hair on your head, nothing's gonna harm you in any way with me around," Naruto encouraged.

Even with her efforts to comfort them, the three children still had weary looks on their faces, "C'mon, guys. I didn't teach you all ninjutsu for this kind of result! You need to learn to protect yourselves and the ones you love."

"All civilian men, women, and children, retire to the Hokage Monument as there might be an attack taking place soon! Be aware of your surroundings and remember to protect the children!" A shinobi repeated this with haste.

"Wait, stay here guys," Naruto ran to the shinobi shouting and warning people. "Who's going to attack, Shinobi-san?"

Recognizing Naruto as a fellow shinobi, the warner told her, "The Hokage held a meeting to all shinobi stating that the Sannin were captured in Ame, and now Ame, with Hanzo leading the army, will be attacking Konoha with twice as much shinobi as in the war at Ame last time."

"An attack from Ame? But that isn't possible! They should be too weak to initiate an attack with Konoha!"

"Apparently not. Jiraiya of the Sannin had informed us with one of his messenger toads that there would be an incoming attack from Ame."

"Oh." Naruto replied, feeling as if her heart had dropped. "And what's become of the Sannin?"

"I'm not sure, the Hokage only told us in a rush. He must've forgotten to say, or maybe didn't want to say..."

The blond paled and wavered, "Th-thank you, Shinobi-san." She gave him a small bow and ran back to the children. "We need to head to the Hokage Monument right now."

"Is that why everyone is moving this way right now?" Konan questioned.

"Yeah," Naruto thinned her lips. Briskly walking, Naruro thought about the three Sannin, if they were all right, and most importantly, if they were alive. If they, for any reason, happen to be spirited away, only God knows what would become of the future.

Naruto felt knots forming in her stomach at such horrifying thoughts. She brought her palm on her temple in frustration and tugged on her clothes to smooth out its wrinkles. The blonde then remembered the first time she met the three Sannin in the new timeline, particularly Tsunade and Jiraiya.

She barely knew their younger forms – practically strangers – but Naruto could still see their old personalities in them. Tsunade still criticized Jiraiya due to his perverse behavior, and Jiraiya was as perverted as ever although Tsunade kept hitting the hell out of him. Naruto barely formed a smile when she felt a lurching flip in her stomach.

If she lost Jiraiya again, after coming all the way to the past to prevent that, Naruto would lose herself from distress.

"Nagato, Konan, Yahiko, please head over to the Hokage Monument," Naruto slowly said in a no-questions voice. "I'm going to be heading somewhere for a little while—"

"Nee-san, you're coming back, right?" Nagato squeezed her hand tight.

"Yeah, wait for me, kay?" Naruto engulfed the three children in a hug, "And if you guys get in trouble, remember what I taught you during training. Stick together, okay?" With a kissy face, Naruto stood up and pinched their cheeks. She needed to put on a brave face for them.

"Hey—" they muffled.

"By the way, when I come back, you all better hope the apartment's clean."

Yahiko put his hands on his hips, "I can't promise you anything—"

"We know, Nee-san," Konan and Nagato punched Yahiko lightly on the arms.

She smiled, feeling the comfort of her sibling-like figures and left to the opposite direction.

* * *

"Stay in an orderly fashion when heading to the Hokage Monument, folks! Remember, this is only a precautionary measure taken for an incoming attack!" Sakumo shouted with hands clasped in between his mouth to remind the Konohan citizens. He repeated his instructions and headed to another location.

He looked to the side and sighed when the citizens, blinded with fear, scrambled like ants tending to their queen.

Sakumo looked at the many children crying and tugging at their parent's clothes for comfort and frowned. He, as a father, worried immensely for his only son, Kakashi. He wondered if Kakashi was already inside the Hokage Monument, safe and sound with the rest of his classmates.

"Please be safe," he whispered to himself.

Walking through an engulfing amount of villagers and shinobi alike, Sakumo caught the sight of Naruto sprinting from roof to roof, heading towards the village entrance. It was prohibited for shinobi to exit the village with the Hokage approval, and at most cases, shinobi who were to ever leave the village would be in groups with others shinobi, not solo.

Sakumo frowned deeply. As a teacher, wasn't Naruto supposed to be inside the Hokage Monument, tending for the nervous children who had never been exposed to an invasion?

Looking back, Sakumo saw five of his fellow shinobi warn and instruct the villagers. He, despite his fighting conscience, ran towards the direction Naruto was heading and followed her.

Naruto, sprinting cutting through the wind as she ran, had lithe steps, making no sudden and clanking noises as she glided and leaped through the creased, metallic roofs. Her speed picked up once she sighted the entrance clearly, seeing that there were many Konoha shinobi outside the village, preparing for any incoming attacks.

She cursed and turned to another direction, left from the entrance and hopped up to the steep and thick walls of the protective Konoha. Once atop the massive barrier, the woman put her flat hand over the crease of her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes for any clear routes she could take.

Breathing a deep breath, Naruto ran to one of the clear corners of Konoha's barrier that overlooked a lush-green forest of Konoha-only grown trees that stretched over Naruto's line of sight.

As she smelled the lush-scented air, out of all its naturalness, she recognized the familiar scent of hair product. She spun around to face her offenders, clearly seeing three ANBU with masks concealing their facial features.

Naruto growled out in annoyance. She had suspected that something like this would happen. Through years of knowing him, Naruto knew that her old jiji was kind and generous—and also rumored throughout the elemental nations to be quite soft—his trust came at a massive price.

"A rookie mistake there, ANBU-san. Couldn't you at least diffuse your scent?" Naruto was greeted back with a sharp incoming kick to the face. Naruto hummed in annoyance and thrust back a power-filled punch back to the ANBU.

Naruto jumped backwards in two quick motions and wiped her brow sweat. She looked at the ANBUs' masks and recognized their animal personas—owl, lizard, and bear.

The blond got into her unique fighting stance and gave the first line of attack, gifting the trio with painful advances of kicks, punches, and everything between. She smirked when she saw their clenched fists, successfully stimulating their anger.

The ANBU gave back her attacks more effectively, surprising Naruto, even giving her quite the daze when one—the most bulky one out of the three—took the ring of their kunai and slammed it down Naruto's cranium.

Naruto panted heavily. She cursed herself for underestimating them. The one ANBU who wore the hair product—Owl—must have used the scent to look unprofessional and rookie-like to faze Naruto. The Jinchuuriki growled out, "Oh, you're getting it, dattebayo!"

The blond front flipped towards Bear and kicked him on the torso him as she landed. Lizard ran towards Naruto with a short, curved sword and threw it towards her like a boomerang. Naruto, as she was still initiating to attack Bear and Owl at the same time, Lizard's attack almost caught her off guard.

She kicked the sword from the air, and jumped up for it, grabbing the weapon's handle tightly. The blond cut through her offenders with homicidal intentions and hurled back Lizard's sword back to him, effectively inflicting a gaping wound on his right bicep.

Lizard grunted in pain and covered his wound with his left hand, leaving him vulnerable. As Naruto was about to run up to Lizard, Bear was in a defensive stance while Owl was crouched down with the kanji of Tiger on her hands. Owl then put her fingers up to her mouth and with inflated cheeks, created a massive fireball within nanoseconds of finishing her hand seals.

The gigantic mass of fire hurled towards Naruto, disintegrating everything in its reach. The fireball, which was insanely quick, was about to engulf Naruto, and with so little space, Naruto was almost at a disadvantage. Naruto, still facing the fireball, dodged the flames in the last second by jumping to the right into thin air, then attacked the incredulous Owl with a flurry of kunais.

She landed back into the solid ground, facing Owl, who sustained Naruto's attack with a fighting stance.

Naruto's eyebrows creased unpleasantly. In her fury, Naruto had forgotten that she couldn't kill anyone from Konoha, or else she would face the consequences of being untrusted from the Hokage.

In an eye lock, Naruto stared at Owl with a menacing glare. She advanced towards Owl and was locked into a taijutsu battle. The blond saw the immense skill Owl had for taijutsu. In some instances, Naruto was at the short end of the stick. However, the Jinchuuriki fought her way up, and in an impossible fast flurry of movements, Naruto had a kunai pointed at Owl's head.

Naruto smirked, and turned over to the kunai's ring and slammed it on Owls head, effectively making Owl go unconscious.

Naruto then stared at the two last ANBU and licked her lips and crossed her fingers in a cross, "It's time I ended this."

The clone Naruto made stood next to her with their hands placed in between Naruto's. The clone then started to infuse chakra, making a winding sound. What the two ANBU saw shocked them completely—the Rasengan.

Naruto struck Bear, who was thrown towards the already injured Lizard, defeating them completely.

The blond crouched down on her knees with exhaustion written all over her face. She had thrown even more fuel to the fire as she had caused the civilian's panic to grow from her latest attack.

"Ahh!" She groaned, "Sucks to just start fighting after six months..." Naruto looked back at her work and smiled, "At least I haven't lost it yet." She then jumped from the barrier, landing, then jumping from tree to tree.

"That girl... What is she up to?" Sakumo said from the side of the barrier. He jumped and landed right side up, meeting the three ANBU. "What did the Hokage tell you guys?"

Owl, at the brink of total darkness said, "To destroy her on spot if she were to harm Konoha in any way."

"Destroy Konoha, eh?" He was in his serious mode, but felt a bit melancholic at the revelation. "Would she do that?"

"Please find her and do our deed." Owl whispered in a hushed tone. "We cannot risk it."

Sakumo hummed, "Ok." He swallowed a lump on his throat, "For now, I still need to confirm Naruto's actions." He exhaled a deep sigh while putting on his fingerless gloves, "And if her actions are against Konoha..." He let Owl's imagination go wild as he jumped from the steep wall, and into the forest.

* * *

Naruto wasn't surprised when she saw rain pouring down Ame like a hose. "I hate the rain," she muttered to herself. The woman stopped to catch a breath. After sprinting for four hours straight, the blond was exhausted.

After heaving deep breaths, she stood straight and made a solid henge into a male persona with brunet hair and a taller stature. She tested her voice accordingly, resulting in a completely deeper tone. Lastly, Naruto removed her forehead protector.

She then cleared her mind and summoned her demon, "Hey, Kurama?"

**"Yes?"**

"Good, you actually sound awake." Naruto sighed in relief, "Would it be too much of a hassle to ask for your "wisdom?"

**"Are you trying to fool me, Brat?"**

"No!" She crossed her hands unconsciously, "I just wanted to ask you if you held any knowledge about Hanzo?"

**"Hanzo, huh?"** Kurama purred in thought, **"When your mother was my Jinchuuriki, I had heard many rumors of Hanzo of the Salamander. It was said he was one of the strongest shinobi to have ever lived. He…"** Kurama paused in thought,** "He was a private man, I suppose you could say. Usually, the ones who ever fought him never lived to tell the tale, and the ones who did live were also a bunch of private fools."**

Naruto gave Kurama a quizzical look, "So what?"

**"There's nothing else to it. All I could tell you, Naruto, is good luck." **Kurama raised a brow and then sniffled and reminded, **"And don't forget to hide your head protector." **He gave her a contemplating look, and added, **"Also, in that form, don't give anything away that could reveal your identity as much as possible. That means no Naruto-only jutsu."**

"Already know it. Anything else to enlighten me?"

**"No. It's not like you can get anything else through that thick thing that you call a head."**

"You..." Naruto growled, then sighed to herself. "Ugh. Now's not the time for this shit."

Naruto then agreed to what Kurama had insisted and pulled out a full-body cape from her backpack, successfully concealing her identity and sheilding herself from the rain.

When she neared the village, Naruto slowed her pace to think. Would Hanzo know she was in his village from the rain just as Pein had before? She couldn't risk it. The Sannin would be the ones getting the brunt of her mistakes. Having come this far already, there could only be a matter of days until the inevitable would come.

She then decided to settle inside a bar just outside of Ame. Going up the path to the bar had been uneventful, walking only to see rainy landscapes. When inside, Naruto sat on one of the single seats right in front of the bartender. "Your weakest saké, please?" The woman grunted in a deep voice.

The bartender gave her a quizzical look and shrugged his shoulders. Naruto looked behind her, counting only about eight people in the bar, most of them being shinobi. Luckily, one shinobi and his acquaintance came and sat beside Naruto.

"Finally, this hellish day has ended! I seriously thought we were gonna die today, Lori."

Naruto listened in, pretending to be immersed in drinking her saké.

"Tell me 'bout it. I've been sleep deprived this whole week, add work on top of it, and I'll be sure to be dead by the end of this month, Kizi. Heck, when I was on the fronts, I had insomnia!" Lori joked.

"Least we're lucky to be on boarder patrol. Others are on the front lines." Kizi shivered, "I don't think I would be able to sleep with both eyes shut if it were me!"

"Yeah, Hanzo-sama was generous." Lori patten the left side of the bottom of his torso, "When I was on the fronts, I thought I was a goner! When I got this injury, Hanzo-sama let me off and thought I would be of more use in border patrol."

"Heh," Kizi laughed without amuse, "tough."

Naruto analyzed the two at the corner of her eye. Lori and Kizi were still young. The blond estimated them to be at least sixteen years old, if not older. The two boys only sounded mature, however, their appearances said otherwise. Still under aged, Naruto saw that the two were only given alcohol from shinobi benefits.

This must have been the first war of their generation. Naruto frowned in pity for them. She wasn't any older when she participated in her first war. Wars sucked. All wars did was bring calamity to the world.

The two boys only tried to act tough, but deep down inside, Naruto knew that all they wanted to do was curl up to their mothers—if they had any. Especially since the war's battleground was dead-center in Ame, there was no way for them to think that everything was fine.

She looked around her surroundings and saw that many in the bar had solemn expressions littered on their faces.

Naruto narrowed her eyes and drank the rest of her drink in one shot—something was stirring up.

The drink burned through her throat as she wiped her mouth. "Hey, Man, I'm off. Better get some rest," Kizi joked.

"Yeah, me too. Better get going," Lori slapped Kizi's back and waved before heading out.

This was Naruto's chance. She slapped the given amount on the bar and slowly followed Kizi out, who left soon after Lori. Out the door, Naruto noticed the slightly staggered movements Kizi performed while walking down the straight slope. She smirked—this was going to be easy.

As Kizi walked in an isolated area, Naruto took her chance to swipe her elbow to Kizi's neck, successfully knocking him out.

She took him into one of the many abandoned buildings in Ame and waited for him to wake up.

After time's wait, Naruto was sitting across the woken Kizi, who had the same dazed look on his face. _Good_, Naruto thought. Kizi was still drunk.

Kizi, who processed everything in his sight tried to sit up from his chair, but was restrained from the tight bonds on his hands and legs. "Wha-what's goin' on!?" He shouted as he started to shake from his secured chair.

Naruto stared at him with analytical eyes. Due to Kizi's young age, he was an easy target for information. Added that he was still drunk, he was even easier prey. His immature brain will inevitably cause him to be impulsive, and with that, Naruto could weed information from him easily.

"Don't do that. The only thing you will get from struggling is senbon on your body." Naruto jingled her cup of senbon in a hand. The metal pines clattered in the cup like a melody of unsavory death. Kizi visibly shuttered, thinking of possible scenarios in his head.

"He-hey, weren't ya that person next to me?" Kizi sat with widened eyes of realization.

"Are you simple-minded? Even after the war trampled on your village, you dare not watch your back, especially to even be drunk?" She was cruel in her words.

Kizi frowned at Naruto's male persona as his eyes shown gleamed through the darkness. He was provoked, and shouted out, "Shut your-"

A senbon whooshed past his ear, successfully cutting a few strands of hair, and shutting him up completely. "Now you're quiet?" She paused before continuing. "What is Hanzo planning with Konoha?"

"Ple-Ple-please! I-I don't know a thing!"

The blond gave him a blank stare, "Judging from your reaction, you do know something, do you?"

"No!" Kizi insisted.

"Suit yourself," Naruto walked up to him slowly, letting him to feel a building anxiety. She took a senbon from the metal cup, purposely holding it out in front of her and poking herself with it, causing a stream of blood to leak from her index finger. "It's pretty sharp, you know?"

He was visibly shaking by now with cold sweat running down his face. "Wher' you gonna stick that?" He slurred again.

"I don't know, you tell me." She was devious, looking at Kizi with a darkened expression.

"Please," he begged again, "I swear I kno' nothin'!"

She then struck him on the shoulder, causing him to rattle in his seat. The boy, although young, lifted his head while biting his lip from crying out loud. He groaned as the pain deepened.

"The next one goes though your fingers one...by...one…if you're not careful in your choice of words." She advanced towards him, locking a senbon on the tip of his index finger. "So many nerves on such a little thing like a finger, if I were to penetrate you right here, who knows how much it would hurt?"

When Kizi kept his mouth shut, Naruto started to move downwards, until she felt the penetration of skin. He struggled in his seat, as tears of pain ran down his cheeks.

With the pressure building up, Kizi finally shouted in surrender, "Okay, okay, I'll tell ya!"

Naruto stopped her latter actions and released her hand. "Good," she said blankly. She instantly got into business, "What is Hanzo planning on doing with Konoha? Give me a detailed answer."

With a hesitant look, Kizi explained, "Ev-everyone that's a shinobi in Ame knows 'bout it, but most are worried 'cause it's a far-fetched plan."

Naruto raised a calculating eyebrow, "Because?"

"Because an army 'ill march down to Konoha soon, and when they get there, they'll attack. The army's created with two-hundred and four able-bodied men and women, with twenty medic-nins who're extremely capable. The army is led by four captains, Kitama-sama, Kinoshi-sama, Matsuri-sama, and Tonzo-sama."

"Where's Hanzo in all this?"

"Hanzo-sama, he'll go down later to Konoha after the fighting is finished. When he arrives, all surviving Ame-nins 'ill retreat while Hanzo-sama 'ill create a poisonous fog that'll cover all of Konoha. This particular fog, if ya know, is used in large quantities of enemies and is extremely lethal. After an hour of inhaling, one can drop dead on the floor."

Naruto froze at the news that was much worse than she had presumed. "Tell me where Hanzo is right now, or else I'll remove your eyes!" Naruto then had a no-nonsense expression on her face. If she found Hanzo, she might have a clue as to where the Sannin were at.

Kizi became pale and stuttered, "He-he's at the tallest building in all of Ame—everyone in Ame knows it—you won't miss it."

Naruto relaxed her features, "Good, then. Thank you." She cast a memory fading jutsu on Kizi, who slumped on his seat, and ran off to find Hanzo.

* * *

When Naruto first entered Ame, Sakumo was about to strike, until Naruto went and kidnapped a man. It was puzzling to Sakumo to see Naruto act tremendously harsh to an Ame-nin. If his memory served him correctly, Naruto was also an ex-Ame shinobi. He sighed and looked down in thought.

Nothing was making sense. If Naruto was under Hanzo, then shouldn't she know where to meet up with him? Also, why did she need a henge, it was almost as if she was a stranger to Ame.

He stopped on his tracks and had a contemplating expression.

Just who was Naruto?

* * *

It wasn't far, the tower. Like a skyscraper, the tower touched the skies at a magnificent height. Even though its height, the tower had only a few windows scattered around. Naruto frowned and ran towards its entrance, being greeted by a dim darkness.

Looking her way though, Naruto found herself in a deep and eerie hallway. She took a kunai and focused on her surroundings, ready to strike if things were to go unexpectedly.

Naruto's steps were silent as she walked on the marble floor. The building itself looked like it wouldn't belong in Ame as all of Ame's other constructions were simple and cheap.

She narrowed her eyes in disdain. Was Hanzo such a corrupt leader that he would live in luxury as his village collapsed to the floor? He was a more selfish man than she had thought.

Then, as she neared a staircase, Naruto heard mutters coming from the upper story. When she reached the top, Naruto hid behind a wall and heard a clear conversation between two men.

"Yes, Hanzo-sama. The army is about two hours away from Konoha," one said.

"Good, that means I have about a day's wait left."

"Yes, but one more thing Hanzo-sama..."

"Of course, Shimeru."

The one known as Shimeru landed in front of Naruto and slashed a kunai at her. Naruto dodged it and sweep kicked him, though he easily parried it by jumping over it. Unperturbed, the blonde took out a kunai and locked blades with the man's kunai.

Naruto knocked Shimeru's kunai off with ease and plunged her kunai in his bicep. Shimeru held in a wince and shouted, "Wind Cyclone of Lightning!"

Naruto widened her eyes, remembering that this was the name of the lethal technique used by Kakazu. She could only lift her arms to block the attack due to the lack of time, causing her to be covered in burn marks and blisters.

"Lightning Release: Serial Strikes!" Shimeru quickly added.

Although the building now was a complete mess, Hanzo hadn't even batted an eyelash. She stood up in anger and barked, "Typhoon Water Vortex Technique!"

Naruto's technique easily countered Shimeru's technique, and hit him straight in the chest. She then sprinted towards him and struck his shoulder with a roundhouse kick. She punched the bodyguard in the stomach, causing him to cough blood.

The one-sided battle continued on until Shimeru was unable to stand.

Naruto turned her head to look for Hanzo, only to find out that he wasn't there. She cursed and ran towards the exit, where she felt a tremendous amount of power. Naruto advanced towards Hanzo with a kunai at hand. Closing in, they both clashed.

Hanzo and Naruto's hands clashed in raw strength. However, although strong, Naruto lost as Hanzo pushed his sickle down further.

"Don't you dare do anything to could harm Konoha!" Naruto barked in a steep voice.

Hanzo stared at her, "And what makes you think that I won't? Konoha has threatened me first by bringing their 'Sannin' to my territory. I'm only doing what's right for Ame."

They dashed towards each other again with their weapons at hand. "Dance of the Sickle Blade: Falling Descent Blade!" The chain on Hanzo's sickle elongated and tightly latched on Naruto's arm, causing her grip on her kunai to loosen, ultimately causing it to fall to the stony ground.

"What is your name, Boy?" Hanzo questioned, still under the impression that Naruto was man.

Naruto let her hand free from the chain's hold and the light blond-haired man, "That's not what's important right now." Naruto took another kunai from her pouch, and in a quick motion, ran up to Hanzo and aimed for his sickle. "What I need to know," Naruto slashed again, "is where the Sannin are at!"

Hanzo smirked behind his breathing mask and in a raspy voice said, "So the title is picking up already, huh?"

The Jinchuuriki stayed silent, only responding with a plunge of her kunai at his body, which he swiftly dodged.

Naruto jumped backwards twice, then gave a battle cry and charged towards the light-blond haired man. "Erupting Propulsion Fist!" Naruto didn't hold back, letting her chakra flood the air.

"Who are you?" Hanzo questioned calmly once again, looking as if he wasn't startled at all from Naruto's killer intent.

Naruto glared at him, her face scrunching in disgust. "Just your average shinobi," Her male persona said in a deep voice.

Her maneuvers noticeably quickened, as did her moves and attacks. She kneed the man on his stomach and punched him directly on the cheek. She rolled backwards to produce more room for her taijutsu match with Hanzo.

Their arms looked nonexistent from the naked eye as they met in combat. Naruto panted as her seemingly endless chakra was emptying at a quick rate. She punched Hanzo on the left side of his stomach, causing him to stumble from behind. Naruto body flickered behind Hanzo and thrusted her flat foot on his back until she heard a sickening crack.

Hanzo front flipped to remake his pace on the fight. He sprinted towards her and side swiped her face, only for it to be blocked by Naruto's hand. In a series of Taijutsu moves, Hanzo broke Naruto's left arm.

Naruto gulped and looked straight at Hanzo's eyes and gave him a roundhouse kick, only for her leg to be caught. Hanzo took this as a chance and hurled her harshly towards the solid and uneven floor. Naruto's breath was knocked from her.

After making a series of hand seals, Hanzo shouted out, "Water Release: Rain Downpour!"

The rain around Naruto grew heavier and heavier by the millisecond, until the minuscule drops of water began to bruise her skin. Naruto countered the attack with a wind technique that sliced through the air and rain until it stopped.

"Water Release: Hand Spear!" Water enveloped Hanzo's right hand like a glove until it became spear-like.

Hanzo rushed towards Naruto in her daze. Naruto took out a kunai and tried to block the spear, but it was to no avail, as the transparent weapon cut through hers like butter and made a gaping wound on Naruto's left torso.

Naruto winced and almost lost her balance as she jumped back to put some distance between them. She panted out heavily and nodded in satisfaction when as she was still concealed in her cloak.

She relaxed her muscles through the pain then gave Hanzo a menacing look. "Wind Slicer!" She focused on Hanzo's right hand, which was holding the spear. The woman finally threw the kunai at Hanzo's blind spot, and when impacted, heard a sickening crack. Hanzo's face was now visibly pained.

His water spear finally dispersed to the floor. Naruto took this as a chance to attack. She ran towards the man and gave a powerful roundhouse kick, aiming for his head. He stumbled backwards, and Naruto jumped up and pounced on the pale-haired man.

However, even at his immobilized state, Hanzo threw Naruto off him and slammed his left hand to the floor whilst shouting, "Fire Release: Exploding Flame Formation!"

Naruto widened her eyes, surprised that Hanzo could use fire release without hand seals. Her surprise was short-lived when exploding tags emerged from the stone ground, quickly following Naruto as she dashed towards a safe distance.

Though the Jinchuuriki avoided most of the tags, some latched insidiously on her leg. All she could do was watch until the tags detonated onto her leg. The woman sucked in her breath when she took a direct and painful hit from the tags, milking out a pained cry from her.

Hanzo then slammed his palm to the ground as he called out familiar space-time ninjutsu, "Summoning Technique: Ibuse!"

Taking advantage of her momentary paralysis, the summoned salamander dug underground and shortly emerged to the surface, swallowing Naruto completely.

Hanzo sighed as he finally finished his deed, "And I thought he had potential."

However, just as the salamander swallowed Naruto, it bloated to twice its size, then exploding to a cloud of dust to return to its realm. When the smoke cleared, Hanzo did not see the shinobi he was once facing, but the face of a whiskered-marked, blonde, woman—a woman—with perhaps a hundred clones of her.

"Hmmm, a woman, huh?" Hanzo suspected.

The blond haired girl grinned, and ran towards the man with the intent to kill. "Where are the Sannin?"

Hanzo narrowed his eyes and denied her the answer. The woman looked familiar, like he had seen her somewhere before. All thought were put aside as Naruto was closing in. She then enhanced the strength of her right hand and punched Hanzo square on the face, causing his mask to break.

Naruto widened her eyes. A poisonous mist was protruding from his mouth. Naruto, on instinct, jumped backwards and covered her nose and mouth until she was at a safe distance.

"You have poison inside you?"

"Yes, when I was younger, I was injected a poisonous sac from a salamander, hence my name." He advanced towards her and commented, "Unpreparedness is one's greatest enemy."

The blond frowned and readied herself into a battle stance. Hanzo rushed in and punched her square in the arm, then jumped backwards and got into a defense position, blocking the hoard of kunai and shuriken coming his way.

Naruto, however, had to stop when the sharp pain from her left arm and right leg deepened from her movements. She stumbled to the ground from the shock of pain.

Hanzo took this as a chance and dashed towards her, but despite his coming effort, Naruto jumped up, enduring her pain, and plunged her kunai on the bottom left of his torso.

The blond man's eyes widened as an intensifying mist of green poisonous mist darkened the foggy air. Naruto, in surprise, gasped and inhaled the mist, causing her to hack.

Hanzo collapsed on the floor and breathed out, "You're strong. But even with your strength, woman, the poison will kill you in two days. As will I-I will die from my own poison."

She crawled to where the man was at and brought him to a clear spot where the air was clear.

Naruto put the blade of her kunai on his throat and threatened him in a raspy voice, "Tell me where the Sannin are or I will kill you."

"You're faith for the Sannin is also strong. What makes you think that they are alive?" He groaned out. The poisonous mist Hanzo engulfed was taking a toll on him.

"Where?" The blade pricked his skin slightly.

Hanzo closed his eyes and then submitted, "Inside the tower's basement. They are deprived their chakra."

Naruto then removed the kunai from the man's throat. "I'll take your word for it." She frowned, "This is your resting place," although cliché, Naruto inquired, "Any last words?"

Hanzo settled his hand on his heart and muttered, "People don't end when they die. It ends when they lose their faith."

The whiskered blond looked at him as his quote inspired her. "Then I'll take your word for it, Hanzo."

* * *

Sakumo closed his eyes and lifted his mask to his face to cover himself from inhaling the poison. He frowned and slumped behind a pillar while contemplating that Naruto had just defeated one of the Elemental Nation's greatest.

He gulped and looked up the rainy sky. Why did Naruto want to find the Sannin? The silver-haired shinobi was then startled from his thought when a familiar voice muttered, "Don't follow me anymore Sakumo." She was shocked when she saw his appearance.

The masked ninja came from his hiding place and faced Naruto, "What are you doing, Naruto? First you break through Konoha's ANBU, then you come suspiciously back to Ame and defeat your once-leader, Hanzo." He then glowered at her, "Why do you need to retrieve the Sannin? The Hokage hadn't sent you to do it."

Naruto stared at him with her mouth half opened. She couldn't tell him her connections with the Sannin. She then concluded, "Look, Sakumo. I'm tired of people giving me that doubtful stare like I'm connected with the happenings going around Konoha." Sakumo crossed his arms on his chest. Naruto sighed and continued, "I don't care if you trust me or not as a person Sakumo, but I need you to trust me on this one right now. The Sannin need my help." She pushed him from her view and began to walk away.

"What is your ulterior motive?" Sakumo slammed Naruto hard on a stone pillar, causing parts of the pillar to crumble.

Naruto coughed and groaned in pain as she tried to push Sakumo off. However, despite her strong efforts, Naruto was weakened from the pain from her left arm and right leg. There was no way to push him off unless he was willing to let her go, so she settled with glaring at him, and with eyes filled with hurt and anger, she spat out desperately, "I have no ulterior motive, Sakumo. Now keep your hands off of me. Please."

He loosened his grip enough for Naruto to finally push him off. She started to trudge down the path towards Konoha with a limp leg as she rubbed her now-bruised back.

Sakumo widened his eyes and opened his mouth to stop her, only to feel guilt engulf him. "Wait, Naruto!" He ran up to Naruto and snaked his arm around her waist and lifted her arm around his shoulder to give her support.

She stared at him with her brows knitted together and quietly growled, "I told you to get away from me."

Naruto then sighed at the unmoving shinobi. "Look, I already said I'm fine. It's okay, I don't wanna waste your time any more than I already have."

Sakumo grimaced at the way she put her words, as if he'd been treating her like a nuisance. His guilt grew tenfold when he saw Naruto's hurt and tired expression once again. "Could you please take it as a form of an apology for doubting you? Please Naruto. I was out of it for a second." He thinner is lips, and Naruto could feel his posture slouch, "Just- sorry."

Naruto turned to look at Sakumo again. She stayed silent as she searched his face. For what, he didn't know. But she soon broke the silence when she opened her mouth to speak again. "…You know you look a lot like Kakashi with that mask on?"

Sakumo placed his free hand on the back of his head and eyesmiled, wanting to take on a lighter subject with the blond enigma, "Yeah, I get that a lot, but usually it's the other way around."

The blond thinned her lips and looked away from her support. Who was she kidding? He looked too much like Kakashi to her own liking that it was nostalgic. Just like when she was in her teenage years, Naruto couldn't stay mad at her past companion, even though he was a useless teacher.

"Let's go?" The silver-haired shinobi gave Naruto a hopeful look.

The woman's lips twitched downwards. And like Kakashi, she couldn't stay mad at Sakumo. After all, even though she partially struggled with admitting it, Sakumo was her first friend when going back to Konoha.

Naruto hooded her eyelids and sighed, finally giving in to the persistent silver-head.

"Let's go."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for any disappointments, but I'll try to update a better chapter next time. Until then, have a nice day!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello! Sorry for the long af wait. I just wanted to thank every one of my readers. I hadn't appreacited this enough, but I got 100,000+ hits on Unknown and 1,000+ follows. Wow. Anyways, have a good read!**

* * *

Her eyes rippled in motion, peering inside the brightly lit lab room. With labored breathing, Naruto muttered, "Odd."

Sakumo looked at the woman who was perched on his back, "I shouldn't be surprised. Hanzo was world-renown for his poison."

Naruto lifted her head from the curve of Sakumo's left shoulder, "Put me down, please?"

"Sure."

When Naruto stilled on the white tiled floor, she couldn't help that her knees gave out from mere exhaustion. She felt like she did a full day of wall squatting, and spluttered on to the floor until Sakumo helped her up again. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just that my legs feel nonexistent."

"Hm," Sakumo hummed, then extended his arm towards her, "cm'ere."

Naruto slung her arm to his shoulder feeling less pressure onto her legs when putting her weight on Sakumo, "Thanks."

Sakumo hummed in response and walked to an extended white-stained glass table that held multiple, large flasks filled with a green, watery, substance. Naruto's interest piked as Sakumo settled next to the table. "What do you think it is?"

"Poison," replied the silver-head.

"Hmm, maybe." She grasped a unique bottle from the table and peered it's features. Although the liquid inside the bottle was almost the same shade with the rest, the bottle was the only one labeled "Ibuse." Sakumo looked over Naruto's shoulder and examined the bottle.

"That's weird, why is this bottle the only one that's different?"

"Who knows?" Naruto took several bottles with fitted caps and placed th

em inside her weapons pouch, "I'm gonna see if Tsunade…" she rolled her tongue weirdly and added, "-san can analyze it."

"Good idea," he eyed her weirdly, "she could maybe make a remedy for you."

"Ibuse," Naruto repeated, waving off Sakumo's expression. "Sounds familiar." With a moment of though, the woman's face suddenly sparked in realization, "Wasn't that the name of Hanzo's salamander summon?"

"His summon? I'm not sure."

The whiskered woman pursed her lips and decided to gently place the bottle in her bag with the rest of the many other flasks. "I'll look into that one later. For now, let's head on. We don't wanna be too late for anything now."

Sakumo nodded his head grimly and headed out the lab with Naruto in tow.

* * *

"It's really creepy in here," Naruto commented while looking at the many taxidermy animals decorated throughout the dimly lit hallway. She instinctively moved in closer to Sakumo, who was startled by the sudden contact.

Sakumo stared up at the ceiling, humming in a low tone, trying to ignore the closer contact from Naruto. "What are you looking at, Sakumo?"

The silver-head let out a deep breath and gave a drawled answer, "Nothing, it's just that it's really dark in this place."

"Yeah, whoever decorated this place is insane. How could anyone pass this hallway everyday and not feel disturbed?" Naruto coughed in a jerking manner, "It feels like I have a sixth sense."

"You're delir..." Sakumo turned his head to the other end of the hallway, "...ious." Then, like a stimulant, Sakumo's eyes widened as he pounced on Naruto to shield her from an incoming blow.

"What's going on?!" She screamed both in pain and in terror.

Sakumo stared at her and uttered an apology. Some of Naruto's wounds had reopened, causing blood to gush from the makeshift clothing bandages. He muttered a curse than stood up in front of Naruto, making a dark silhouette to cover her features.

"Kami, Kurama," Naruto whispered under her breath and sighed sadly. It seemed that Kurama still wasn't completely recovered.

After a couple seconds of silence, Sakumo looked back to Naruto in confusion. "What was that?" He mouthed out, not daring to say a word.

Naruto answered, and gestured similarity, "How the heck should I know?" She then cast him look of worry and pointed to his back and silently stated, "Are you okay, Sakumo?"

The Jounin looked to his back and gave her reassuring smile.

There was a clattering sound echoing into what seemed to be the inside of the walls.

Sakumo's face snapped to the location of the sound, staring in confusion when he couldn't find anything other than a wall. "Could it be inside the wall?" He asked Naruto in a louder whisper.

Then, as Naruto was about to answer, Sakumo picked her up quickly and jumped, bringing both him and her, to a safe zone. "What is this thing?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Put me down this instant, I have a feeling that this thing would be a nuisance."

Sakumo nodded. "It could go though walls," he commented while looking at the massive holes on the walls. Everything was trashed in his line of sight, even the dim lights started to get dimmer. Sakumo sniffed the air to try to recognize the thing that was drilling holes.

The thing, to Sakumo's expectations, submerged from the floor and glided towards Naruto with haste. He quickly picked her up and ran.

Sakumo, when looking back at the creature shuttered. It was an unknown variable, and what scared him the most was that the thing wasn't even human.

He looked to his surroundings and saw the drilling patterns of the holes and clenched his jaw.

"If we don't get out of this place, it's gonna collapse on us Naruto!" He and Naruto sprinted as fast as he could to the uttermost safe level where no destruction was held.

The pair could hear the sudden snaps of the building collapse from stress. Naruto looked up to see Sakumo's masked face, his eyes holding distress. She looked worryingly to the older man, and apologized, "Sakumo, sorry for holding you back. My legs still feel fatigued."

"It's fine, you're not holding me back." He grabbed her hand and turned to an alley and breathed out in relief when he found clearing inside the building. His senses tingled when he heard the thing begin to rumble it's way towards them and Sakumo protectively held Naruto closer to him. "It's coming closer, Naruto."

"I know." After a moment's pause, the older shinobi frowned and sorted, "When I tell you to, I want you to run as fast as you can to search for the Sannin. I'll hold this thing back. It seems to be attracted to you for a peculiar reason."

"Attracted?"

"Attracted as when it always seems to want to inflict something on you. Back in the base hallway, it would always either be close to hitting you, never me when I was prone to attack."

"But why?"

"Just a hunch," Sakumo sighed, then perked his head in motion. "Wait, did you get a good look of the creature?"

Naruto knitted her brows together, "Not clearly, but I could make out its shadow—it's massive, almost the size of Gama-" She lurched her throat and concealed her word in a fit of coughs. Sakumo had a relieved expression on his face and patted her back soothingly until her coughs subsided completely. "Whew," she feigned relief, "what I meant to say was that the thing was as grand as the Hokage Tower."

"The Hokage Tower?" He gave her a calculating look and held her shoulders, "Okay," he let out a small sigh, "I'm gonna subdue this thing quickly, and I need you to find the Sannin as soon as possible—we don't know what these people are doing to them—because first of all, in your state, I don't think you can hold up as well even with your ungodly healing abilities-"

"What the, I never told you-"

"That doesn't matter right now, Naruto. All I need you to do is find the Sannin while I run this thing to the mill. Worst case scenario: I'll die."

Naruto gave him a sour look and hissed, "Don't be so pessimistic, Sakumo. I'll be backup!"

He gave her a sweet smile on his mask-less face and squeezed her shoulder, "Don't be so worried about me, Naruto. Just stay safe. And by the way, you are in no condition to be fighting anymore—especially to this creature."

She looked away, feeling a slight twinge of embarrassment and befuddlement. Sakumo pulled his mask up and removed his tanto from its sheath on his back. He ushered Naruto to a safe zone and blinked when he heard the familiar sound of the creature.

"Go!" He lightly pushed Naruto out the door and slashed at the attacker, whom was close to attacking Naruto, and it flew backwards several yards.

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief as she saw Sakumo's sheer strength that cause the creature to fly back. Naruto could only achieve that kind of strength when she had chakra in her arms. "Naruto, now!"

Naruto stood up from where she had stumbled and saw the creature come dash at her. She stood from her spot and frowned—the creature looked exactly like Hanzo's summon, Ibuse.

Sakumo, just in time, jumped in front of Naruto, and forced Ibuse backwards once again. He pushed Naruto completely out the door and closed it, jamming it in with a kunai.

Naruto widened her eyes in realization of what had just happened and shouted out and started to slam her shoulder onto the door in hopes of opening it, but to no avail, Sakumo was physically too strong for her.

In the spur of her distress, Naruto felt her throat constrict when she slammed her fist onto the door. Hanzo's summon—Naruto didn't think it would still be on this worldly realm. She remembered it being summoned back to its realm when she over exerted it with shadow clones when it swallowed her.

Ultimately, she now knew why Hanzo's summon wanted her—not Sakumo. Naruto cupped her hand to her mouth. It's poison, especially inside the barricaded room Sakumo was fighting against it, could kill Sakumo easily if erupted.

Sakumo should have known it was Ibuse he was fighting against before she did, and even with that, he still didn't let her in the room. "That stupid man," she cursed him name and punched the one last time. "Don't tell me to not be worried for you when you could die!" Again, she kicked the door to bring Sakumo's attention, then screamed, "I swear if you breath any of that salamander's crap, I'll beat the crap out of you!"

A deep silence consumed her, and all she could contemplate about was why Sakumo would do such a thing. She, herself wouldn't stand too long against the salamander for it would easily defeat her due to her slowly-healing injuries and the fact that Kurama was also trying to get the poison off her bloodstream.

Either way, the best choice was what Sakumo was doing as of that instance. Now, all Naruto had to do was fulfill the last part of their mission then come back as quickly as possible to Sakumo before he became a corpse.

She took a few breaths meditatively until she calmed down, walking up to the steel door, finally giving up. Nearing the clamoring sounds that were being produced, she then tenderly proclaimed in a hushed whisper, "Please stay safe, I promise I'll come back to get you, dattebayo."

With that, she turned her heel and sprinted as fast as she could to find the Sannin.

* * *

She ran as if her life counted on it and dangerously pushed herself to the limits to quickly find the Sannin. Once she reached a rustic and dreary hallway, she fell instinctual and smelled out the most prominent smells.

When she heard the dripping of rainfall and saw the glow of the fired torches on the stone walls, Naruto steadied her pace and subtly walked into a rain-flooded room, of which she dictated as the entrance of the prison.

Naruto sucked in her breath when she smelled a foul scent. She followed the scent and what came up was a prison that seemed to have a massive intake of prisoners. It wasn't surprising to the very least when seeing this many prisoners. After all, Ame was the heart of the war.

Naruto frowned, this would be an extensive job if she didn't posses Sage Mode. She then sucked in her breath and stood still for a few seconds until her eyelids were highlighted with orange. She opened her eyes completely, and what showed were orange irises with black, frog-like pupils.

She started to search within the natural instinct her Sage Mode gave her. Within moment's time, she was finally drawn to a wallow inside the prison, which held an extreme scent that mixed with mildew and mud.

Hiding her cough into her elbow, Naruto glided on top of the flooded water. Her energy was led to a lone prison, that was flooded with both water and darkness, having only a flickering candle give out warmth and a dim light then deactivated her Sage Mode.

The woman widened her eyes at the unbearable environment. Not even the worst of criminals were held in such unkempt surroundings as this. She came up close to the prison and gasped. Jiraiya was in chakra restrains that kept him to the ground. Naruto could see that near the restraints, his wrists and ankles were raw from struggle.

She thinned her lips then began to play with the lock, feeling surprised when the lock seemed to be loose. She narrowed her eyes and flickered them to her surroundings to see if there had been anyone else before them that was there.

Footprints clattered to water as if

Naruto turned her head to the noise, and almost couldn't block the incoming blow. It knocked the breath out of her and she stumbled back a few feet. Naruto widened her eyes when the flicker of the candle flashed on the offender's face, and what Naruto could make out was the young face of Tsunade.

The Sannin cracked her knuckles and wasted no time in foreplay, exceeding her way with action instead of words. Naruto dodged all of Tsunade's attacks, seeing that the world-known medic-nin was lacking in her stamina and energy.

Naruto could see the bags under her eyes and protruding cheekbones from Tsunade's face, and assumed that she was in malnutrition.

The blond jinchuuriki frowned. Tsunade seemed much righteous then before Naruto met her, fighting vigorously for the sake of Jiraiya.

Naruto sighed and blocked an incoming fist with a vice grip, holding Tsunade in place. Tsunade cried out in frustration and tried to punch Naruto in the face, but all came in vane.

"You're out of your mind, Tsunade-san! Snap out of it, I'm from Konoha with Sakumo!" Naruto reasoned with the female Sannin.

The woman across Naruto lifted her head to look Naruto, "Sakumo? From Konoha?"

Naruto pointed to her forehead protector and stared at the woman who held such hope in her eyes, that it was uncanny. "What the hell happened here?"

Tsunade flourished with comfort when she saw the Konoha stigma on Naruto's forehead protector, "Never been so relieved to see that forehead protecter in my life." She turned to face Jiraiya and scrunched her eyebrows, "We need to find Orochimaru then get out of here quick."

There was no time and effort wasted as the blond Jinchuuriki came into Jiraiya's cell and picked him from the murky waters. "How filthy this place is." Naruto came to realize how similar the prison was to Kuruma's cell, only more unkempt. "Did you also have to stay in these conditions?"

"Yeah, for a whole week," was Tsunade's simple reply. Naruto then noticed Tsunade's damped clothes and stray away hairs. The stench that protruded from the swamp-like prison was deafening to Naruto's nose, and its dimness strained her eyes easily.

"That's unfortunate, but we need to find Orochimaru soon, Sakumo's out there fighting Ibuse—Hanzo's summon."

"Hanzo's summon? Does that mean Sakumo's also fighting Hanzo by himself?" She then gave a thoughtful look, "Well, he is quite strong."

Naruto shook her head, "No," she heaved while holding Jiraiya up, "Let's just say he was disposed of."

"Disposed of? You mean..." Tsunade gave her a look of anger for a split second, but it quickly receded when Naruto traded her a calculating look.

"Yes, he's deceased."

"Who...?" The medic-nin gave a calculating stare to the other blond but decided to keep to herself. "If Hanzo is dead, why would his salamander still be battling with Sakumo? It should've returned to its realm by now."

"Now that you mention it, I'm not sure, maybe his summon was devoted. I mean, didn't he have Ibuse ever since he produced poison?"

"Devoted, huh? I have heard of that." She looked at the heavy heap Naruto was carrying. "Here, let me help you with the pervert," Tsunade stated affectionately after not seeing him for many days.

Naruto smiled gently, letting Jiraiya down carefully and slung him arms on both Tsunade and herself.

In the distance, there was a door, rusted from the humidity, and when opened, there was a greeting of darkness. It gave unwelcoming air to both conscious women, but both treated inside the room until they heard the door slam shut automatically.

Although Naruto disliked the fear of the unknown, especially in places like the room she presently resided in, she felt like she was nearing where Orochimaru was from pure instinct without her Sage Mode. Naruto lit up a match to clearly see what the area that surrounded her appeared to be, and what was shown was a dreary room that looked like the area that Jiraya was secluded in.

The blond Jinchuuriki gave a look of thought, then asked Tusnade, "Hm, just wondering, did the place you were prisoned in look like this?"

"Yes."

"Lucky," Naruto muttered softly to herself. The match Naruto was holding burned to her fingers and she lit another one. "I have a feeling we're close by." Naruto didn't have a reason to use her Sage Mode anymore.

"As do I."

"Why aren't there any guards here?"

"Beats me, the only things could assume is that the majority of shinobi are heading to Konoha, waiting for Hanzo."

"Hanzo, huh? Well, he's not coming anymore," a small smirk was painted on Naruto's face.

"That's relieving. I thought for the entire time I was prisoned here, Hanzo would go and destroy Konoha as we know it." Tsunade rubbed her hand to her face gently before looking at Naruto through the darkness. She grew a frown before shouting in a whisper, "I feel his chakra!"

"Really?" Naruto spluttered as her eyes grew happily, then with uncertainty, "No, then it'll be too easy."

Tsunade shrugged her shoulders, but agreed. She led Naruto to where Orochimaru was, and amazingly enough, Orochimaru stood from where he was inside his cell with his eyes closed.

Orochimaru opened his snake-like eyes and hissed. "What's going on?" He flickered between both Tsunade and Naruto and suspiciously hinted, "Who are you people?"

"People?" Naruto whispered to herself. She looked back to Tsunade and what greeted her was a man with a mask on and in his hand was a sack—a sack of poison. Naruto then threw Jiraiya to a safe zone and hollered, "I swear, Orochimaru-san, if you breath any of this..."

Naruto looked dangerously to the man that was disguised as Tsunade and growled. "How the freak did I not notice you weren't Tsunade?"

"Fu-", she groaned, the man in the filtered mask punched Naruto right on the stomach, successfully knocking the air from her. She crashed into the wall, feeling like a fish out of water. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen until she gave an areal strike and cleared the air.

She gasped out severely, filling her lungs with oxygen desperately and vigorously searched for the man. "Where the freak is that freaking rat?" She cursed his being until she found him once again with the same tiny poison bomb clasped safely inside his hands.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto wasted no time in leaping toward the poisonous bomb as it dropped tithe floor in a quick pace.

Then, as Naruto gave him a feral grin, the man behind the filtered mask gave her a look of both awe and fear. Naruto, who had the small sphere clasped inside her hand, ripped the protective mask on the man's face and shoved the poisonous contraption inside his mouth.

"Will that make you sit still now?" She remarked sarcastically as the man fell into his untimely doom. Naruto heard the shallow splash from the man as he fell face-first to the floor. She looked to where the man stood and cursed that she let her guard down.

"That's very brutal," a familiar voice hissed inside the hollow tunnel. Naruto's head snapped to where Orochimaru was and held in her snarl. She paced herself from where she stood and tried to keep a calm demeanor in front of the snake sannin while retrieving Jiraiya from where he was thrown. "You were sent by Sensei, weren't you?"

"You could say that," Naruto lied. "I'm here with Sakumo. He's about four hundred yards 9 o'clock." She then played with the lock that was holding Orochimaru and his chakra restraints, successfully freeing him.

The blond avoided eye contact from the man and signaled for him to be quite and stay on her tail. Seeing the Konoha insignia on Naruto's head protector, Orochimaru listened and quietly followed along.

Walking up to a high-ceiling corridor, Naruto decided to activate her sage mode once again to find Tsunade for obvious reasons. She couldn't take anymore chances of any other enemies like Tsunade. It was too far long in the past for Naruto to clearly recognize anyone she once held close ties with.

Dodging her eyes towards Orochimaru, she did not feel any dark motives from him like she would an enemy and continued to walk from corridor to corridor. Orochimaru, who followed closely behind, gave her a look of interest when he sighted her orange eyelids and frog-like eyes.

"You're a sage?" Orochimaru asked intently. Never in his life had he ever seen another Sage besides Tsunade or Jiraya. "For a fact if I'd known another Sage lived in Konoha, I would've known at least of your existence—but I've never seen you in Konoha."

Their steps littered soundlessly atop the liquid floor. Naruto thinned her lips, then explained hastily to the Snake Sannin, "You know me, you just don't recognize me."

"Pardon?" He inquired in a formal tone, taken aback from her assumption. "And how so?" He hissed in a snake-like manner.

"That time when you came back with the three Ame orphans-"

"Oh, so you are that new care taker." He paused for a second, concerning himself in deep thought, "And if I recall correctly, you did say you were from Ame, right?"

With lightly clenched knuckles, Naruto straightened her back in unease. Something did not feel right from the way Orochimaru questioned her "past." "And... I feel like you take interest in this subject."

"I do," Orochimaru peered his slitted eyes to Naruto back view. "And if you're as strong as they say you are, at least someone would have recognized you from the Great Elemental Nations. After all, nowadays, people patronize the strong with such a reputation, it would be quite hard to miss."

Naruto turned her head slightly and looked at Orochimaru through her peripheral vision, "What can I say?" She shrugged and turned her head to the from once again, "I was raised on one of the smaller islands that surround Central Ame. A small fishing village, I tell you. But even so, there were some shinobi families that resided there. That's where I lived from my childhood, then to my teenage year, and unto a small portion of my adult life until the war struck. And one things for sure—my village was unknown. By the time the war was at its midpoint, I could tell you that my fishing village was of no more because of how undiscovered it was. I bet you that whoever crossed it wouldn't even know that it homed over ten fishing families and even more shinobi families."

"I wasn't doubting where you lived, Gama-sannin-san. I just wanted to know, well, based on what the rumors say, how undiscovered you were until now."

Again, Naruto looked behind to see the smirking face of Orochimaru. She knew this was coming and wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage knew she was also a Gama-sennin. After all, he has been on her tail since when he first met her.

Snapping her head to look straight again, Naruto ignored the man behind her. She focused on finding Tsunade, and almost instantly, Naruto pinpointed where Tsunade was. "Found her!"

The man who walked smoothly behind her, acting as if he had never set foot inside his torturous prison, did not give her a look of surprise, only retaining his small smirk, portraying a knowing look.

Like hell you know, Naruto thought as her face contorted in agitation in just being a foot away from the bane of her existence.

Naruto looked atop her shoulder, and finally felt the deadweight Jiraiya was stressing. She groaned inwardly and commented to herself, "I swear-"

Then, Jiraiya snored lazily, successfully cutting Naruto's sentence. With narrowed eyes, Naruto began once again, "I swear, he's in no mind unconscious."

Orochimaru looked at both variables intently and reduced his smirk, "Knowing him," he started, "he probably is just asleep. He can sleep through just about anything unless he wakes up on his own."

"That's just..." She looked disbelievingly at Orochimaru and glanced back to Jiraya. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she put Jiraiya down on the wet ground.

"And you are trying to wake him?"

"Yeah, I'm not going to lug around this dead weight all the way back to Konoha." She gave Orochimaru a sour look, "And I'm sure you aren't going to either."

The Snake Sannin did not reply back, looking at his nails as if they were the most interesting thing in the world, not wanting to be any part of the coming procedure. Naruto shrugged and started out with shaking the white haired man violently. "Hey, wake up, wake up," she repeated multiple times. Then, she cupped her hands together and started to swing water from the floor on Jiraya's face.

"Hmm, so you're not gonna wake up?" She wore an agitated look on her face. Naruto then cast a look of uncertainty, "Is he really just asleep?"

Orochimaru shrugged his shoulders, the sudden interest from his nails finally faded, "It's hard to perceive."

"I don't want to use any jutsu on him. All of them are way too noisy or too strong that it could kill him."

Orochimaru didn't say anything for a minute, only giving her a calculative look. When he opened his mouth to speak, he commented, "You are an interesting variable."

This time, Naruto didn't hold her glare from the pale man. He had just described her as some sort of data to one of his bizarre experiments. If only he was a rouge-nin at this time, Naruto would, at any given chance she had, snap his neck.

The blond sighed, then looked back at Jiraiya. She hummed then started to pinch Jiraiya on the face. "Wake up, wake up," she repeated countless times. When he didn't wake up, Naruto sighed then stood up to Orochimaru's height. "I guess he really is unconscious."

"Perhaps."

She then crossed her fingers reluctantly and made a Shadow Clone. As easy as it may sound to make a shadow clone lift Jiraiya, Naruto didn't want the weary and painful aftershock for when the Shadow Clone popped. When the clone puffed into existence, Naruto ordered it to lift Jiraiya.

Then, like a stimulant, a groan erupted from Jiraiya. Naruto quickly dispelled her clone, making Jiraiya drop from midair, and into the chilly, flooded floors. Again, Jiraiya groaned, this time, in pain. "I feel..." Jiraiya didn't finish his sentence.

Sheepishly, Naruto rubbed the back of her back and crouched down next to Jiraiya once again, "Hey, sorry Jiraiya-san." She waved to him.

Jiraiya smiled gentlemanly, "Am I in a dream or-"

"Don't finish that sentence," she snapped.

Jiraiya chuckled, but stopped when he saw Orochimaru behind Naruto. "You're out Orochimaru?" His face then grew serious, "Then where's Tsunade?"

"Tsunade-san, we're looking for her right now, but I've already pinpointed where she's at. Should be around here somewhere."

"That's convenient." Jiraiya looked at his opened toed shinobi sandals and what caught sight were his wrinkled toes due to the flooded water. "Gosh, it's like I've been here for a decade."

They started to walk to Tsunade's location. Orochimaru chimed in smartly, "Not exactly, Jiraiya. Only about a week, give or take a day or two."

"You know what Orochimaru? You need to stop faking that you don't feel fatigued anywhere and own the fact that yeu' " Jiraiya's tongue rolled in the heat of his argument with Orochimaru.

"You?" The snake Sannin corrected.

Jiraiya settled with a glare and crossed his arms with a sour look plastered on his face. "Shut up," he said with much fury. "Freaking Orochimaru," Jiraiya swore under his breath, "I swear I could see those bags under your eyes."

Naruto looked with an annoyed expression littered on her face and growled out menacingly, "You guys need to shut up before I lose my concentration. What if someone hears us?"

"Then we'll just kick his ass!" Jiraiya shouted out cockily. "After all, I am the great Gama-sannin," he stated in a matter-of-fact-like tone.

Naruto lessened her expression and looked straight to the narrowed hallway. Of course, she reasoned, whatever came with Jiraiya was his annoying nature, but she already had two-and-a-half years of experience of that. The blond's eyes positioned relievedly and affectionately for the white-haired sannin. She had missed him for four years.

"Shut up, Jiraiya," ordered Orochimaru.

"Yeah, and today your makeup looks kind of messy, Orochimaru. Your purple eyeliner's slipping from all this humidity."

Orochimaru and Jiraiya traded glares and filled the hallway's capacity with killer intent. Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "She should be somewhere here."

Naruto's eyes peered through the familiar dark room and spotted a gleam of blond hair. Naruto activated her Sage Mode and verified that Tsunade was in the cell. "Tsunade-san's in here!" She whispered loudly. Carefully stepping into the room, the trio stalked to where Tsunade's cell was placed.

Taking out three senbon, Naruto skillfully played with Tsunade's lock, careful to not spark any alarm systems. A slight click sounded as the lock was sent opened, and Jiraiya quickly hoisted her.

"Are you sure you want to carry her, Jiraiya-san?" Naruto inquired formally. "Aren't you still weary?" Tsunade was unconscious, just like how Jiraiya was,

"Naw," he waved off her assumption, "I'm okay."

"Okay," Naruto shown seriousness in her eyes and put her hands to her hips, "We need to get out here as soon as possible. I need to know how Sakumo's doing, and hopefully he's not poisoned to the brink of death—that idiocy." She combed her hair with her hand and sighed, "I'll lead the way, and if something's wrong just flare your chakra up a bit. Okay?"

The two men nodded and all set off.

* * *

When the three Sannin and Naruto reached their destination, what caught sight was a littered scene. The door that Sakumo jammed with a kunai was blasted from its hinges. Naruto's face was distorted, and she ran inside the foreboding battle scene.

"Sakumo?" She saw his familiar leafy green flack Chunin vest torn from his body, and picked it up. Only a few yards left, Sakumo laid peacefully on the tiled floor. "Sakumo?"

"Hey," she kneeled next to him. "Hey?" She shook him lightly, then vigorously when he gave no sign of movement. "Sakumo, wake up!"

"Urg," a moan rang out from behind Naruto. Naruto turned around and saw Jiraiya letting Tsunade down. "It smells disgusting in here." She looked around and saw she was surrounded with familiar faces, "Jiaiya? Orochimaru?" She bit her lip, "You punks!" She punched them both on the shoulder "lightly," causing them to fall backwards a few yards. "I though you guys died!"

"Hime," Jiraiya sounded solemn, "Nows not the time to be celebrating." He pointed towards Sakumo and Naruto.

A frown escaped Tsunade's brows. She came next to Naruto and cursed when her weapons pouch was gone, "They really did take everything." She then inquired Naruto, "Do you have a med kit on you, perhaps?"

Naruto who nodded repeatedly wiped her eyes and got her med kit from her pouch. "Here."

Tsunade didn't say anything and quickly started her procedure. She took out medical gloves from their compartment and felt Sakumo's pulse. Tsunade's eyes narrowed when there was no sign of a pulse. "C'mon Sakumo," she growled out. Thump, thump. "There it is," she then took out a miniature flashlight and forced Sakumo's eyes opened.

The light that was cast upon his eyes dilated his pupils. "Good, there is no nerve damage."

Tsunade cleaned Sakumo's wounds then took some ninja wire and a hooked needle, tying them up together. She held the end of the wire and started to sew Sakumo's wounds, closing them up tightly. Miraculously, Sakumo groaned from the piercing contact.

"He's good," Naruto whispered.

Tsunade nodded, stitching Sakumo's last major wound. The medic nin then cast her healing hands over Sakumo's torso, and green, healing chakra protruded from them. First, all his closed wounds healed completely, leaving no trace of them ever being there. Then, slowly, blood rushed towards Sakumo's face, which in turn regained color. And, as color came to his body, Sakumo slowly started to gain consciousness.

His eyes opened like a snap. He blinked repetitively until his sight was clear. Sakumo rubbed his hands to his face and sat up, looking directly towards a heap of litter from when he trashed the building from his fight. The silver haired man looked to his side and saw the Sannin, causing him to smirk a bit to Naruto. He chuckled, "Unofficial mission complete."

"You," Naruto scrunched her eyebrows together, "you're impossible." She leaped on him and started to thrash violently, causing him to chuckle immeasurably. "Are those actually the first words you say after gaining consciousness?"

Naruto settled in his arms. "I destroyed that oversized lizard," he told her.

"And it destroyed you too?"

"No." He exchanged an amused look to her, "Something tells me you don't know what destroyed means. It means I oblitera-"

"I do know, Sakumo," she whined. "You could've died."

"And I didn't."

"But you could've."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me, Sakumo. You know it's true."

He sighed, nonetheless still smiling under his mask. "You're right." He held her closer.

Naruto looked up at Sakumo and saw the curve of his smile. "Sakumo-"

"Guys, we still need to head back to Konoha. Hanzo's army should be waiting there by Konoha's border. We need to subdue the army as best and fast as possible to protect Konoha. Let's go." Tsunade reasoned.

Reluctantly, Sakumo sighed, standing and helping Naruto up. "Thanks," was Naruto's simple reply.

"Anytime," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Let's head home.


	13. Chapter 13

It was grueling coming back to Konoha's borders, but that did not stop Naruto, Sakumo, and the Sannin from being unmotivated. Protecting Konoha was ingrained in their minds since the Academy days and was always seen as the first priority no matter the state one was in.

"Damn," Naruto cursed as she placed her hand flatly over her eyes, "They're already here. I could sense their huge army from a mile away—literally. They can't be far from us right now."

"Doesn't matter," Tsunade said, "we just need to catch 'em by surprise from behind." She smirked and cracked her knuckles, "For all Ame knows, they're surprising Konoha, and not the other way around."

Jiraiya nodded. "That's right. I've already sent the Hokage news about the sudden upbringings of Ame. And since they don't have Hanzo as commander anymore, the whole army will be blind sighted with grief and fear. Hopefully, Sensei will have some shinobi station for battle by the time we get there."

"I suppose you're right." Naruto looked to Sakumo, "Are you still up for a fight, Sakumo? After all that running we did, I wouldn't expect anything from you."

"I'm good to go." The grey haired shinobi unsheathed his tantō, "Anyways, I should be the one asking you that. You already did so much-"

"Come on," Orochimaru interrupted, "Now's not the time to pester about ones wellbeing. We need to obliterate this army before any harm is done. This army still thinks that Hanzo'll come and command them. Let's use this time wisely."

"Orochimaru's right," Tsunade sighed. "Sakumo and Naruto, you guys go ahead and rile 'em up while Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and I will catch them from behind with the help of our summons."

A slight nod from Sakumo and Naruto were given, and they headed off to face Ame's army head on.

* * *

"Guess Jiraiya was right. The Hokage already knew 'bout Ame, huh?" Naruto grinned as she saw shinobi from Konoha fighting their offenders.

"Good thing too. I wouldn't imagine being able to beat them with just our group of five. We're all already injured as it is."

"Yeah. Ame's army is pretty big."

"For sure." He looks at her and sighed, "I guess now we should start our endeavor."

She gave him a cheeky smile, "Agreed. Let's go!"

* * *

Cutting through from behind Ame's large army, Naruto and Sakumo parried with countless shinobi, slowly weaving their way throughout the army.

Naruto side swept her elbow into an enemy's skull and heard the small fracture she made. She dropped the enemy unconscious and looked for her next target. "How many you got?" She shouted to Sakumo.

"Didn't keep count, but I estimate twenty-two. You?"

Naruto smirked, "Twenty-three."

Sakumo mirrored her expression and downed another three shinobi in one large trust of his tantō. "Make that twenty-five!"

Suddenly, a barrage of colossus, boulder-crushing noises sounded from behind the battle field. Naruto grinned knowingly to Sakumo, and they ran out from the center field and into a safer zone.

A large toad pounced into the middle of the battle along with an enormous snake and slug. "It really does look picturesque what they're doing out there, huh?" Sakumo shrugged to Naruto.

Knowingly, Naruto nodded. "I totally need a summon." It was true. After going back to the past, Naruto wasn't sure if she was still signed to the toad's—she couldn't risk it anyway as it would arise confusion to Jiraiya. The blond rubbed her hand on the slight crick on her neck, "Well, anyway, maybe we should start to help again. The sannin can't dispose of every single enemy."

"Your right," Sakumo stated as he clenched his tantō in his fist tighter. "Come on, I see a whole lot right over there."

Naruto arched her back in a stretch, "Let's do this. I can't wait to go home."

* * *

The battle reached its conclusion close to daybreak, lasting a total of five hours. With inevitable casualties came inevitable injuries from both sides. Konoha came through strongly, as the loss of Hanzo discouraged his army.

No harm came to Konoha in the process, and by achieving victory against Ame created a huge milestone for Konoha's war effort.

Platoon by platoon, Konoha's shinobi came home to share their success and sorrow. The Hokage, who sat in his office looked beyond his full view window at Konoha, which directed to the entrance.

"Sensei?" Jiraiya's voice was rough and fatigued as he informally called for the attention of the Hokage.

Hiruzen turned to face the audience of five and strolled back to his wooden desk. "Welcome back," he greeted while blowing out a puff of smoke from his pipe.

"The mission report will be done by tomorrow, Hokage-sama."

A smile etched on the Hokage's face. Orochimaru was always like this—formal and quite serious in the right setting even to his closest allies. "Of course, Orochimaru. I thought you all would come by later, give in to some rest and relaxation after what just happened. Very diligent," he complimented.

"During our stay in Ame," Orochimaru started, "we found out that Hanzo was planning to destroy Konoha by poisoning the people of Konoha. He stationed his whole army just before the borders of Konoha to avoid our patrols and so that his army could meet them later on with his summon—Ibuse—to lead them."

"That would have been problematic. Then how did you take care of them?"

"Hanzo was disposed of by Naruto, causing devastation to the army. Without Hanzo's poison, his plan was already bound to fail."

At this, Hiruzen widened his eyes considerably. Hanzo, by no means, was weak.

"After that, we were rescued and made it in time to participate in the battle, with Konoha coming in with a victory," the Snake Sannin finished.

"Wonderful! I knew it was good to send you three to Ame. If I hadn't, Hanzo would have destroyed Konoha. All of you are dismissed except for Sakumo and Naruto."

Naruto felt the bottom of her stomach drop. She did not know what would happen. Even with her righteous duty to the war effort, she still disobeyed the command of the Hokage by not staying in Konoha—especially when she was in the position of a teacher and should have been taking care of the children.

When the Sannin left, Naruto and Sakumo kneeled down to their Hokage. "Lift your heads and stand up straight, you two." Hiruzen sighed and gestured them to sit down in the two chairs located in front of his desk. "I express my deep gratitude to you both," he paused and sighed again, "especially to you, Naruto. I know that for the past couple of months you have been aware of the Uchiha police."

Naruto widened her eyes and looked down. She knew she shouldn't have sent those not-so-subtle hints to the Uchiha. All Naruto could make out was a quiet apology. Now, she looked even more suspicious than before to both Sakumo and the Hokage.

"No," Hiruzen waved his hand, "I should be the one apologizing. With these couple of months, I have become suspicious of you, even going as far as making you the scapegoat of this whole Ame fiasco."

"No," Naruto defended, "it's understandable, seeing that I was from Ame, only to pop up in Konoha only six months ago."

"Please accept my apology, Naruto. It will only lift my burden—especially after all you have been through in keeping Konoha safe."

A smile came to light in Naruto's face, "Then I accept your apology, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen returned her kind gesture then faced Sakumo. "Sakumo, I also hold gratitude for you by going with Naruto to find the Sannin. Without your efforts, who would know what the future would be like?"

"Well actually-"

Sakumo was interrupted when Naruto hit him lightly on the thigh. "Of course Hokage-sama," Naruto answered for Sakumo.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, but thought nothing of it. "Now that that's settled, you two are dismissed. Seeing that this was an unofficial mission, I do not need a report. For now, relax."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," they both responded.

When the two Shinobi came out of the Hokage's office, Sakumo questioned Naruto, "What was that for?"

"That was for saving you from explaining to the Hokage that you stopped your duties to chase after me."

"Well," he replied thoughtfully, "I guess that was no harm in doing that. I really do want to get home."

"Me too. The kids will be frantic if I'm out too long."

A chuckle escaped Sakumo's mouth, "Kakashi too. He's become more skeptic ever since Iwa, better get home to "save" him from his baby sitter."

"Baby sitter? I didn't think that Kakashi would need one, especially since he's such a capable student."

"He _is _capable—I'm not gonna lie about that." He then scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "It's just that he doesn't think rationally when taking care of himself. I swear I'd leave him by himself, but I kid you not, when he does something as simple as turning on the kitchen stove or washing the dishes, something is bound to break. I can't imagine how many times he-" Sakumo paused, then once again, scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I'm rambling now."

It was nice to see this side of Sakumo. Even though she knew he had a friendly and approachable personality, Naruto laughed. "It's fine. It's quite nice to hear how much of a different person Kakashi is outside the Academy. I would hate for him to be like he is in the Academy in the future."

"Me too," Sakumo agreed. "I just hope that this won't pose as a bad liability."

"Well, that's what I'm here for—to change it."

Sakumo stared at her. It was good to see that Kakashi's teacher saw from his perspective. Naruto, unlike Kakashi's preceding mentors, did not just praise Kakashi for his performance, but corrected his understanding of what the meaning of what it was to be a Shinobi of The Leaf. "Thank you."

A content smile graced Naruto's lips, "I'm only doing my job."

* * *

Three days had passed since Naruto had returned from Ame. Hiruzen had given her a short break—a week—off from teaching from the Academy. Naruto was grateful for the short pardon, leaving her to relax and recover from her recent actions.

From her couch, watching intently to the glowing television, Naruto headed to her small refrigerator and looked for milk. Shaking the carton's contents, a swishing and solid sound resonated inside it. The blond looked at its expiration date and cringed. Almost a month old.

She looked absently at the clock and sighed—7 AM. By then, Naruto couldn't ask any of the orphans to fetch her some milk and other food items from the 24-hour super market because they were still asleep. Naruto then looked outside one of her small windows and sighed once again—it was raining. She heard the downpours and ruled that it was not stopping any later.

The sooner the better, Naruto dictated in her mind and took a small umbrella from it's hook, then opening it with her uninjured arm. The poison had taken a toll on Kurama, thus giving Naruto a limited healing experience. She sighed agitatedly and started out the door.

* * *

Sakumo cursed the Academy for having school on rainy days such as that one. Even with an enormous umbrella that could fit a family of five—one could call it quite ridiculous—Sakumo still did not like the sound and humid weather the rain produced.

To Sakumo, rainy days were always bad days because in rainy days it was always hard to run through, things got muddy, the atmosphere was literally dark, and was a sign of bad luck.

He sighed. Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed content with the rain. The younger boy looked relaxed, not even bothered by the fact that it was very humid. Sakumo groaned inwardly.

"I told you I didn't need to be walked to the Academy, Dad," Kakashi droned.

This time, Sakumo groaned aloud, "You know how I care about your safety, Kashi. Anything could happen on a rainy day. The atmosphere's dark."

"Dad, you worry too much!" He huffed in annoyance then looked embarrassedly to the ground at his sudden outburst. He looked back at his father then continued, "And that goes for any other day, but I don't see you dropping me off to the Academy."

"So you want me to drop you off every day starting with today?" Sakumo replied with a sly smirk.

Kakashi, realizing his mistake, stuttered, which did not go unnoticed by Sakumo. "No-no." Kakashi looked down in thought, "I'm just saying I'm old enough-"

"I know you're old enough to do things, Kakashi. The thing is, before I let you do anything on your own, you need to prove to me you can make a single boiled egg on the stove and wash the dishes properly without any problems."

It was Kakashi's time to groan and he whined, "Daaad! I know!"

"Then don't complain to me anymore. That just shows how immature you're being." A satisfied smile graced Sakumo's lips.

When reaching the gates of the Academy, Kakashi turned to Sakumo and said his goodbyes. However when turning the other direction to head to the Academy building, Kakashi heard his father's footsteps resonating the wet ground. "Dad?" He turned again to face his father. "Aren't you going to go home like you always do?"

Sakumo laughed a bit bashfully and waved his hand. "No, no, I need to make sure you head to your room safely also."

"What are you talking about, Dad? You never do this," he gave Sakumo a suspicious look.

"Come on, Kashi-chan, let's go before the first bell rings." Sakumo placed a hand on Kakashi's small back.

"Dad!" He embarrassedly exclaimed, "Stop calling me Kashi-chan!"

When all Sakumo have Kakashi a smile, the younger boy reluctantly let his father escort him to his classroom. Sakumo stood by the doorway and looked the inside of the filled room. There were quite a bit of children there. He wondered how Naruto could behave all of them being that the children were still just at their peak of childhood.

Still having his mind occupied at Naruto, Sakumo glanced at the teachers' desk, expecting Naruto to be present, but when he saw a middle aged male shinobi stationed there, his heart sank a bit. "Guess she's not here today," he said a bit crestfallen. Of course this would happen, he though joylessly in his head, after all, the rain was bad luck.

He left the classroom after saying goodbye to Kakashi, and headed in the main road of Konoha, leading up to where the mercenaries should be. But because it was raining, no markets were opened. The only that should be opened were the moderate super markets located inside the village.

The man sighed in relief. Since it was raining, 7 AM, and the only facilities that were opened were supermarkets, then no was outside to see him under the protection of a ridiculously enormous umbrella.

However, what Sakumo did not expect was to see a struggling, hooded figure up ahead. The person looked like a fragile and petite older lady and her back was arched forward in a bad posture

He wondered if they had needed any help, but then, when seeing the obviously large cast on their arm was apparent, Sakumo headed toward the figure and offered support.

* * *

She knew it. She knew that she should have gone to get the groceries on another day.

When heading out of the supermarket, Naruto's mood turned abysmal. There was no way that her small, kid-sized umbrella could shield her from the ever-progressing rain. Naruto let out a deep sigh and let a small line of words motivate her—_ramen in the bag._

It _was_ true—there were many different flavors of ramen in her bag that were also quite pricy. When she was younger, it was more about quantity then quality, but now, it was the opposite. However, after she got into teaching, and presently being in a paid rest, Naruto got both quality and quantity of that week's ramen.

She cursed. Instead of plastic, Naruto had paper bags. Again, she cursed.

After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, Naruto gave in. There was nothing that could be done in waiting, so she stacked her bags meticulously, one by one, on top of each other and hugged them tightly on her chest while her free fingers, from her cast, grasped her small umbrella.

This, however, was not a good idea, because when she was at the midpoint of her apartment and the supermarket, her bags almost slipped, causing her to hunch over them in an effort to hold them. For a while, this worked, but when she tried to move, her bags would shuffle downwards.

Naruto's eyes widened comically. She had just realized that she was stranded, right in the middle of the now-muddy, Konoha roads.

The blond thinned her lips in regret for going out in the heavy rain. She looked around the streets, but no one was there, so, with great disappointment, Naruto waited.

"Um, ma'am?"

A slight gasp threatened to slip past Naruto's mouth. Who was her savior? She then turned around, as far as her hunched back could get her, then widened her eyes slightly, "Sakumo?"

Sakumo, who had a shocked face just before, burst out in a fit of laughter. "Naruto? Didn't expect to see you around." He said in between his chuckles as his mood instantly lifted.

"Yeah, it's me," she replied with a roll of her eyes. Then, her face turned pleadingly, "If you wouldn't mind..." Naruto's eyes centered to her groceries.

Sakumo then smiled sincerely, "Well, that's what I'm here for—to help."

Naruto straightened her back in sheer gratitude, however, when she heard a ripping sound, her face contorted into pure regret. "Please don't tell me-"

"Umm…oops?"

"No!" She scurried to the ground and dropped her umbrella.

When she got up after getting her presently soaked paper bags and her umbrella, Naruto let out a frustrated sigh. "Big help you're being," Naruto voiced sarcastically.

Sakumo smiled a bit in amusement, "I don't think you could shield anything with that petite umbrella of yours."

Naruto glared, "And I think you could fit a whale in yours. Where'd you get it, huh? The beach?"

"Whoa there, Miss. I'm just trying to be of help." He grinned when she glared at him again, "If you want, we could share my so-called beach umbrella? What do you say? There is always nothing wrong in sharing once in a while."

Naruto stared at him, then sighed, giving in with a small smile gracing her lips, "You're right," she repeated, "there is always nothing wrong in sharing once in a while."

They walked under the umbrella in a comfortable silence. Sakumo, for the first time, actually thought the rain brought good luck.

* * *

"Thanks, Sakumo," Naruto said with gratitude.

"Course, Naruto, it was nothing."

They stood in front of each other in complete silence until Naruto said in an unsure tone, "Well—I can't believe I'm saying this—but, you wanna come in to eat some ramen?" She looked elsewhere from Sakumo's face, who held amusement, then rambled, "'Cause I don't think you've eaten anything at all today—I mean, I haven't either, so-"

"Sure, Naru. I could use some ramen right now."

Naruto faced him again, not quite sure why she felt so flustered, "Really?"

"Of course. After someone helps another, isn't it just plain old manners to reward the helper?"

Naruto sighed in annoyance._ That_ sounded familiar. Now, she really didn't know why she was feeling so flustered. "Never mind," Naruto muttered under her breath and shut the door.

She then turned around to find Sakumo already inside her apartment, looking interestedly at her furniture and personal items. Unsurprised, Naruto just withdrew a deep sigh and commanded the man, "Fine, since you're already here, start to boil the water. The pots are under the sink."

Her voice faded away as she traveled down her hallway and into her room, leaving Sakumo to think if she was ever going to come out and help him. He shrugged and strayed inside Naruto's kitchen to retrieve a pot and filled it with water to boil it.

* * *

For the five minuets it took to boil the water down completely, Naruto had come out of the room, to Sakumo's pleasure, and they settled in Naruto's living room couch in front of the television.

"Mm," Naruto sniffed her steaming bowl, "this smells good."

Sakumo nodded in agreement and took the first bite. "So what are we going to watch?" He said in between chews.

"I dunno." She then looked at him weirdly, "And aren't you gonna go get a mission or something?"

He shook his head, "No, the Hokage said to take a week's rest." He then lit up in realization, "Is that why you weren't in class today?"

Naruto raised a brow, "In class? How did you know?"

A faint blush tinted Sakumo's cheeks. He didn't mean for that to slip. "I mean, you're here, aren't you?"

This time, Naruto blushed in embarrassment. "Of course." She then took her remote and turned on the television.

"Hey," Sakumo voice, breaking the silence between them.

"Hm?"

"Remember that time I paid for yours and Kushina-chan's ramen?"

Naruto had a look of contemplation then chuckled at the memory. She and Kushina got a total of thirty-two ramen, and the best part was that it was all coming from Sakumo's pocket. She gave him a side glance, "Are you seriously still crying about that, Sakumo? It's been like, I dunno, two months ago."

Sakumo pouted and stammered childishly, "No I am not. I'm just going to remind you that this isn't the ramen I'm thinking about."

"Hm? What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned, not quite understanding what Sakumo was getting at.

"Remember you said you'd pay for my ramen "next time"?" He answered with a sly smirk. "So when will be the day I get my ramen specifically at Ichiraku's?"

Naruto growled, "You..."

Sakumo hummed in response.

"How does this not count? This is special ramen!"

"Yeah, but I want Ichiraku's," he responded stubbornly with his arms crossed to his chest.

"C'mon Sakumo, this'll make my life easier," she gave him her most endearing puppy dog gaze.

A pang of compassion ticked Sakumo's heart and he dipped his head, "Fine," then he restrung it in a jerking fashion, "Just kidding! I need to return the favor by making your life filled with debt!" His laughter filled the whole apartment.

Naruto leaned over to him and put her hands to his mouth, "_Shhh!_" She glared. "The kids'll wake up, and so far, I don't want to deal with them if I can't handle just one kid right now."

"Hey!" He protested.

"Nee-chan?"

Naruto's head jerked upwards when she heard Yahiko's familiar voice.

"Yahiko-kun?" She said in a small voice.

A loud trio of yawns escaped the apartment's rooms. Yahiko answered Naruto, "I want breakfast."

Naruto rolled her eyes in amusement. She got off Sakumo and told him, "Sit up straight. I don't anything bad to influence them."

"Hey!" He cried in mock-hurt.

"Do you guys want ramen?"

"Oh yeah, ramen for breakfast. What a healthy breakfast!" Sakumo said sarcastically.

"Shut up, that's all I have."

"Whatever."

"Guys just make the water. The cups are in the cup board."

"'Kay Nee-chan!" The three said in a chorus. "Who's that?" They inquired when they saw Sakumo.

Naruto smiled uneasily, then shot a warning look to Sakumo. "Guys, if you hadn't known by now, this is Sakumo-san."

Sakumo raised a silver brow. Naruto gave him a reassuring glance and talked to the kids. "Be polite and try not to make such a mess in the kitchen." She sighed, then put her hands to her hips, "And please," she emphasized, "please don't hurt yourselves."

"Hey look, it's rain!" Yahiko hollered to his friends when he glanced at the window.

"Yahiko!" Naruto stated sharply, "I'm talking to you!"

"Yeah, yeah, Nee-san. Guys lets go see!"

"Nee-san," Konan added.

"Yahiko! Konan!"

"Please Nee-san," Nagato pleaded. "Just five minuets."

Naruto widened her eyes at Nagato's proclamation. She pinched the bridge of her nose, then surrendered, "Fine, _ten_ minutes. If you guys come complaining to me when you're sick, I'm not making you soup."

They gave her goofy smiles and scurried outside.

"Hm?" Sakumo raised his brow, "Quite a bunch you got."

"Don't tell me about it." She smiled though, "But they make life less lonely."

Sakumo gave her a sad smile, "Kashi too. If I didn't have him, I don't know what I'd do."

Naruto gave him a questioning look, but decided not to pry. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder then smirked deviously and bent down to his ear and whispered, "So, when are you gonna leave." Naruto stood up straight and gave him a cheeky grin.

Sakumo sighed, then stood up, taking the bowl up and dropping it in the sink. He then stood in front of Naruto and had a smug smirk. "Look, Naru. I'm still waiting for our little ramen outing 'kay?"

Naruto looked up at him seeing that he was easily at least five inches taller then her. She scowled then rolled her eyes, "Fine."

"Great," he eye smiled, took his large umbrella, and walked to her window sill. The male gave her a two-finger salute and jumped briskly out the window.

Naruto uncrossed her arms, but couldn't get the small smile off her face. She sighed. Well, what could she say? She couldn't deny that spending time with Sakumo was enjoyable.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So, I apologize to anyone who was looking for a major battle scene between Ame and Konoha. I was just too uninspired since the last chapters were filled with fights and sorts. By the way, if any of you guys were confused when Sakumo brought up the ramen bet thing, the reference is in Chapter 10. Anyway, how'd you guys like this chapter? Be sure to leave a reveiw;)


	14. Chapter 14

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hey guys, it's been a really long time. I've been meaning to complete this chapter by the end of winter break, which had just ended last week, but I couldn't grasp how to write this chapter until this week. I apologize for making you guys wait for so long. It's not that I mean to abandon this story without completing it, it's just hard coming up with new ideas and putting them into words that work together smoothly. Just know that in the future, if one of these periods of not updating happens again, I am NOT going to let this fic go without completing it, even if it means to wait a year. Enjoy!

* * *

The day was ripe despite the murky weather and the lifeless streets. Food vendors sold their goods for abysmal prices due to slow harvest. _'Konoha is at its worst,' _Jiraiya evaluated as he walked steadily down the muddy path.

His hands sank deeply into his pockets, molding his hand onto a lithe scroll.

He passed Konoha's resident homes, taking the nostalgic sight of the shore. On the shore, there was a pier that led to a lake gazebo. Inside the gazebo, a lady's figure sat; Jiraiya felt less tense.

"Hey, Tsunade!" The white-haired man declared, taking the scroll from his pocket and waving it animatedly when he reached the middle of the pier.

Tsunade did not reply to him, staying placid where she sat on the edge of the gazebo. She seemed to be looking for something, or maybe pondering upon something.

Jiraiya reached the entrance of the gazebo, lightly knocking on the wood to give sign of his arrival. Tsunade still did not acknowledge him. "Hey, Hime?" He said much more quietly and carefully. "A penny for your thoughts? Well, actually, a rice wine from rice county for your thoughts?"

Tsunade finally turned her head to face him when she heard the magic words come out from her childhood friend's mouth.

The scroll Jiraiya had was laid out onto a table. The man unsealed it, and out came the beloved wine.

Her jaw dropped as she eyed the familiar-yet-near-impossible-to-get beverage. "Is that…How'd you do it?"

"Do what?" The white haired man feigned ignorance.

"How'd you get that wine?" She demanded with a slight desperation coloring her tone. "That's only supposed to be in rice country and it would be impossible to get to rice country in this time of war. Also it's said that rice harvests haven't been coming lately, so it would be hard and much more expensive to make wine."

A smirk formed its way to Jiraiya's face, "I have my own ways of doing things. And why are you so concerned? As long as it goes down to your stomach to warm it, it doesn't matter where it's from as long as it's alcohol, right?"

Her mouth twitched in a silent agreement as she hurled herself to the wine and hugged it. "Oh, Kami." She moaned as she opened the bottle and breathed in the smell. Then she seemed to remember that Jiraiya was still here, and quietly muttered a small thanks.

Jiraiya chuckled and pulled out two cups from the scroll. "Then, shall we?"

"We shall." Tsunade smirked back.

They sat down in the gazebo drinking the wine, having little to no conversation. They were savoring their drinks after not having tasted it in a long time due to the war. Like the old times, the two of them sat there, thinking about life, about the war, about the well being of themselves, and about the well being of each other.

The rain pattering down on the wooden gazebo and into the lake created a calming sound. It seemed foreign in contrast to the sound of war. Jiraiya closed his eyes and dwelled inside this renewed sensation. Tsunade must've been feeling this too, he thought.

Sighing in content for the first time in a long time, Jiraiya turned his head to face his blond companion. Her eyes were closed, just like his a minute ago. The cup of wine that was once in her hand was not on the table in between them. She seemed to be sleeping.

"What is it Jiraiya?" Tsunade said in a small voice. Her eyes were still closed.

Jiraiya hadn't felt embarrassment for being caught, as that feeling had grown out of his relationship with Tsunade. Instead, he felt a bit of surprise. "You were awake?"

"Only resting my eyes." She finally opened them, revealing her chestnut eyes, "Now how about a penny for your thoughts?"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "But I still hadn't gotten what's been occupying you, Tsunade. Even after I nourished you with some wine."

"My thoughts?" He nodded. "My _thoughts_," she repeated, "well, I've been thinking about Orochimaru."

She adverted her gaze to the lake in front of her. Even though Jiraiya couldn't see her face, he could tell that she was pained though her voice. Hesitation filled her, "Please tell me if I'm overthinking it, but," she paused again, "he just seems _different_. Maybe it's because of the war. I mean it is our first war and all, but..." She paused and hooded her eyes, remorseful for her old friend. She seemed to be in the same state she was in when Jiraiya first entered the gazebo.

"Orochimaru, huh. It must be a coincidence."

"Huh?"

"I've been thinking the same thing. I mean, the last time we've talked to him was last week, but that was for the mission. So that doesn't count." Jiraiya sighed heavily.

Tsunade nodded, "That's right." She thinned her lips, "He seems so distant. It's like he's gotten more pale, much thinner, and is even talking less than before." She shook her head and knitted her eyebrows, "I mean, we've been a team for close to a decade. There is nothing we hide to each other anymore."

Jiraiya felt the woman's remorse. He shared it with her. Tsunade continued, "What if he's going through something, Jiraiya? Maybe anemia? Even worse, insomnia?" She widened her eyes in worry, for she was a medic at heart, "What if he's suffering from something psychological like PTSD. You know he would never do anything like seek help if it cost him his pride!"

It was true, Orochimaru seemed sick, however, Jiraiya felt like it was something much more than being just "sick".

Orochimaru's distance from them did not dictate his health. Jiraiya, again, looked ahead at the picture that was portrayed in front of him–a rainy midday inside a gazebo. The white-haired shinobi looked to his left, onto an empty seat.

Although Orochimaru never said it himself, his favorite was rainy days. Even though the war, Orochimaru would look out into the rainy days, up into the atmosphere with a look of longing on his face. It wasn't like Orochimaru to share his thoughts, so Jiraiya never asked him of just what he was longing for. Ame, the country of rain, always brought this expression on Orochimaru's face.

Jiraiya breathed in the wet scent, and let himself get carried away with his thoughts. He frowned deeply. In realization, Orochimaru had never opened up for Jiraiya or Tsunade to actually understand him. He knitted his eyebrows in the horrible reality–he didn't really _know_ Orochimaru.

It was sad, he thought, but it was true.

In actuality, Orochimaru had always seemed distant. However, this time it was noticeable.

Tsunade looked across the table at her teammate as she put a pause to her worrying. Jiraiya had already been drunkenly lost in his thoughts and fell asleep. She frowned, feeling quite annoyed at him for not listening, but eased when she saw that a calm expression had replaced the serious one on his face.

Her smile was so minuscule it was almost uncatchable. That pained look on his face had finally vanished. It seemed like whenever she met him that week, he almost seemed sad. Jiraiya must have been bottling up his feelings, she thought tenderly.

That rainy day, Jiraiya never really told her what was on his mind.

It had been the signal flares that woke Jiraiya and Tsunade up in a harsh volt. Both sat up. Jiraiya exhaled deeply and rubbed his face. The flares sounded just like the war.

He looked up to the clouded sky. The blue flares were visible even though the thick fogs, glowing brightly for all to see clearly. Their blue color signified that there was a flash flood scare. Men, women, and children were to pause their activities and take shelter inside.

Jiraiya stretched and went to the edge of the gazebo to look for the sun, which was hiding behind a herd of clouds. He saw that it was already two in the afternoon. It was obvious that the rain was getting heavier by the minute.

"Tsunade, I'll be off," he waved.

"Okay," she grumbled, "I'll stay for a bit more."

The man reached the exit of the gazebo, casting a look back to Tsunade with his eyes shadowed behind his bangs. He hoped that she would be fine.

The sights of Konoha were very much flooded, even more so than before. He estimated about four inches above the ground. As he walked, he conveyed his feelings in long, slow strides. He didn't bother to walk over the water, flooding his sandaled feet with the cold water with every step.

In the heart of Konoha, Jiraiya took comfort on a park bench underneath a willow tree that stood next to a park lake, not yet willing to go home. Alone, he felt a comfort that felt different when he was with Tsunade in the gazebo.

The willow shaded Jiraiya like an umbrella save for a few drops. The chill felt nice and so much like Konoha, he reminisced. The rain was not like Ame's; Ame's rain was hard and never ending, and always gave off the scent of the asphalt roads. Konoha, however, was oddly melodramatic and melodic, wafting the scent of the trees Konoha produced.

However, the tune of the rain was interrupted by loud steps and splashes of the flooded water, lightly annoying Jiraiya. The noise was coming from behind Jiraiya, just a few dozen yards behind the park lake. He cast his attention to the noisemakers and squinted his eyes to four figures, three of which had very vibrant hair.

He heard muffles of their voices, which became much more clearer as they came closer. He turned his head away from them as they were coming under the tree to take shelter just like how he was.

Then, he felt it–that familiarly strong presence. His lips thinned in wonder, trying to picture the person's face in his mind. However, he didn't need to, as she and the other three came to shelter underneath the willow tree.

_Naruto_, he finally remembered her name. After all, who could forget such a unique name? They were right next to him, in their own world.

Jiraiya looked towards the children's direction and saw that they were dirtied. He looked at Naruto, then back at the kids. It was visually obvious that they had just trained. His gaze on the children grew and was reminded of his task. He decided that today was the day of important discussion.

"Naruto-san?" Jiraiya approached her sheepishly with a tiny wave in his hand.

She heard that familiar voice before. Her heart clenched tightly. Naruto turned around, "Jiraiya-san?" She creased her eyebrows, "You were here?"

* * *

"So you've been training them?" Jiraiya worded slowly.

It was decided that the rain outside wasn't a suitable environment to discuss, Naruto had decided. That's how she and Jiraiya were inside Naruto's apartment.

Naruto looked at him in question, "Was that a bad idea?" She averted her gaze to her lap and felt flustered, "I mean I know they're from Ame, but-"

"No, no," Jiraiya reassured, "it's just I was thinking of doing so." He looked back to where the orphans were–in the adjacent room they were in–and quietly added, "Well, you see, I felt something in one of them, something very powerful. It was the red haired boy, if I remember correctly."

"Nagato," Naruto clarified. She gulped a bit and thinned her lips. "Nagato," she repeated, "he _is_ very special."

Jiraiya looked questioningly at her, wanting Naruto to shed light upon the matter.

"I've already discussed this with the Hokage, but he holds the Rinnegan," she put it bluntly.

Jiraiya wanted to laugh, but he couldn't, not with the way Naruto said that so seriously. "The Rinnegan, huh?" Was what he could only make out.

The blond across him have him an analyzing look, "Is that all you could say, Jiraiya-san?"

He looked at her, "No, I'm still processing this." He put his hand on his forehead, "The Rinnegan." _The Rinnegan_, he thought in his head. It rang loud and clear. Nagato was his name. He was still a child and he possessed the most powerful doujutsu known to mankind. The only time man possessed the Rinnegan, he was known as the founder of Ninshū: the Rikudo Sennin.

Jiraiya pinched his chin and shut his eyes tightly. He remembered the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage. The crazy, old toad was always quite mysterious. Always smiling and shaking, the Great Toad Sage appeared senile, but his prophecies were always spot on.

He opened his eyes and drew out a great breath. "Naruto-san, may I see him?"

Naruto stared at him with uncertainty. She didn't know what the Jiraiya of this time would do and how he would react. She just hoped he wouldn't be too dramatic and obvious to surprise. "Please follow me," she gave in.

Opening the squeaky, dark wooden door, Naruto heard the children's banters inside the living room. The TV was turned on high, sounding out what appeared to be an action movie. When upon entrance of the room, she could smell the memorable scent of instant ramen.

She saw the children sitting too close to be safe in front of the TV with cups of noodles in their hands. She shook her head and pinched her nose. "What did I tell you guys about sitting too close in front of the TV?" Instantly, they backed away from the glowing screen.

"Nagato! Come here for a sec, Jiraiya-san wants to meet you." Nagato obeyed and followed Naruto and Jiraiya to the kitchen.

Once Jiraiya caught sight of Nagato, his eyes widened. A_ blue eyed boy_ as the Great Toad Sage prophesied. Jiraiya gulped. He didn't know that the prophecy would come so soon.

They all sat together in the dining table with Naruto and Jiraiya sitting across from Nagato. For the longest time, it seemed, there was silence. In that silence, Jiraiya seemed to be analyzing Nagato in amazement.

"You," Jiraiya finally broke the silence, "do you remember me?"

Nagato looked at Jiraiya with reassurance, "Yes, you were the one who brought me to Konoha."

A smile embraced Jiraiya's lips, "That's right."

"But why am I the only one you want to talk to? Why not the others?"

"That is because there is something I want to ask from you personally." Jiraiya looked at Naruto for approval; she nodded. "It has come to my understanding that you possess the Rinnegan."

Nagato looked to Naruto with wide eyes. She nodded to him also in reassurance. The redhead started to play with his hands, feeling a twinge of uncertainty. Yes, Naruto Nee-san had educated him on his doujutsu, so he wasn't as clueless as he had been before.

Nagato's attention finally shifted to Jiraiya's eyes. "Yes, Jiraiya-sama." He continued on to remove his contacts.

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he saw the completely lilac eyes, patterned with rings. "It feels so different looking at them in person," the man told himself. The seasoned shinobi could feel the sheer power of the so-called mythical eyes.

Again, Jiraiya remember the words of the prophet toad. With this, he finally understood his standpoint in making sure to make this prophecy may ensure successfully. He turned to Naruto, "I see you've been training him."

"Again, yes." The blond kunoichi was surprised at his sudden question. "Yes, I have," she finally answered.

"That's good, that's really good. The basics, right?"

"Yes," she nodded. Naruto gulped, she knew where this conversation was headed to.

"Even better!" He stood up from his seat in a burst of excitement.

Widening her eyes, Naruto was surprised at Jiraiya's sudden change of demeanor. She was confused. "What-"

"Let me train him!"

* * *

"That's what happened." Naruto sulked on her spinning seat inside Ichiraku Ramen. It had been two hours since the rain stopped. Though Konoha was still damp, Ichiraku was still thankfully opened.

Kushina clenched her fist and closed her eyes tightly. Once she opened them, there was a fire resounding in her eyes. "That Ero-Sennin! I didn't know he would also be a child abductor! That pervert, even after being a super pervert. How bad can he get?"

Naruto sat up straighter, feeling deeply moved by her mother's concern. It felt nice talking to her again after a long time.

"No, but I agree with Jiraiya-san. He has so much more capabilities in training Nagato than I do."

A confused expression littered Kushina's face. "But you're an Academy teacher."

Naruto's brittle laughter resounded. "Yeah, that's true, but the thing is, I can only teach him what the Academy can teach, and that can only go so far." Her eyes softened, "Well, you see, Nagato, he's special."

Kushina have her a funny expression, but did not further on the subject. She chewed on a bamboo shoot, then asked, "What about the other two?"

"Yahiko and Konan?" Kushina's nodded. Naruto's mood dampened, "Jiraiya will also be taking them on the journey."

"Not just a child abductor, but a _children_ abductor- !" the redhead looked to Naruto.

Kushina looked like she was going to say something more about Jiraiya, but Naruto shook her head. "No Kushina-chan. You see, the three are inseparable. Even Konan could keep up with those mischievous boys. Everything they would do, they had to do it together. They all saved each other from loneliness and to sever that bond would mean to go back into a life of loneliness." She smiled sadly, "And sadly, that means if one goes, then all three have to go."

The blond thinned her lips, trying hard not to cry. "Jii-san!" She waved her hand flimsily which held a small porcelain cup, "More saké!"

Teuchi heeded her wish solemnly and Kushina patted her back in comfort. "I'm gonna miss them," she finally gave in to her tears. "I think I already miss them."

* * *

Two days after, the Sandaime already agreed on the condition that Jiraiya would return whenever the Sandaime needed him. Everything was set; Jiraiya was allowed to take the Ame orphans onto a journey of training in order to be strong and to find themselves. It wasn't set when Naruto could ever see the kids anymore. This gave her stomach a lurch of pain and fear of the unknown. She was scared that she wouldn't save the children on time if ever their lives were in danger. She was especially scared they would forget her.

The five of them stood at the entrance of Konoha. With Naruto standing inside of the village gates and Jiraiya and the kids stand outside the gates. Each one of the orphans could tell Naruto's sadness.

Nagato was first to move, hurling his tiny stature to the taller blond. Upon his embrace, Naruto started to convulse in her tears; she returned his embrace, crouching down to meet his height.

The other three followed Nagato's example, hurling themselves so hard to the blond, all of them toppled over to the ground. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much!" Naruto cried.

"Don't worry, Nee-san. We'll stay safe." One said. "We'll never forget you!" The words sounded so reassuring. "You'll always be our favorite person!"

That made Naruto laugh as she held the children more tightly. "I love you guys so much, dattebayo." She rained then with kisses, and instantly, the children writhed away from her. Naruto laughed.

"Will I also get one?" Jiraiya asked almost innocently. Naruto rolled eyes and pushed the kids outside the gates again.

They exchanged their parting words, and they were on their way.

* * *

It was the first time in a long time Naruto was woken up by the alarm clock. Most of the time, it would be the kids clattering in the kitchen, making a ruckus out of breakfast that they would bring for her to eat in bed.

The blond laid on her back to the mattress, staring blankly at the white, bedroom ceiling. She sighed then turned to her side to face her alarm clock to click it off. She sat up and rubbed her face. It was Saturday, she realized; it would be the last day of her seven-day break.

She ventured outside her room and into her small living room. She scrunched her eyebrows and squinted, had it always been that spacious, she thought to herself.

Even though before, when she was in her own timeline, Naruto had always thought her apartment was vile due to its lack of space.

Inside her kitchen, Naruto opened her cupboards to inspect them–they were completely full, just like how they were the day before. The blond sighed and decided to settle with a bowl of corn flakes.

It was going to take quite a while to get used to this.

Noon was approaching steadily on Konoha's high horizon. Naruto felt a haze of laziness to go to the TV stand's drawer in order to get the remote. As much as she wanted to watch TV, her laziness almost pulled through. However, when she thought about that Saturday being the last day she could spend so much free time by herself without a worry of being called on a mission, the TV weighed in.

As she held onto the drawer's handle, it latched itself stuck. She grumbled to herself, one of the kids, namely Yahiko–who is which was the most careless and destructive–must've made it that way. Well, he wasn't there to take the blame.

Her frustration and desire to watch TV mixed, that when she pulled on it, the section of the drawer became completely detached from the drawer.

Naruto sat there across from it staring at it with wide, bewildered eyes. Did she really just do that?

She panicked and tried to push the drawer back in, that somehow, if she were to do it carefully enough, it would attach back again. However, the only thing she achieved in doing was wrecking the TV stand even more than before.

After a couple of minutes in frozen thought, the blond peered inside the drawer, feeling that something wasn't quite right. Her eyes were murderous! The remote wasn't even in it! Now who could have misplaced it, she thought as she pictured Yahiko in her mind.

"Damn."

* * *

Naruto stared at the petite furniture store in front of her, which was embellished in signs and sales. Her eyebrows slightly curved upwards and her lips thinned. The sound of doubt immersed her. The doubt being, however, was the decision to buy a new TV stand. Although the drawer broke, it wasn't so damaged to replace it with a new one. She could have easily fixed it or had someone fix it.

A sigh escaped her lips; it had been another of a hundred that day. The blond knew it–she was just here for the hell of it. There was just nothing to do back at her apartment.

After a couple second's thought, she shook herself from her childishness and turned her heel to the other direction.

She let herself get led by her instinct, in which ended up to the Academy's swing set. The swings themselves looked very much polished and new than what she had remembered in the future. The chains that supported the seats were waxed over for a means of protection. It was different, Naruto reminisced. The swings should have been worn out and too old to be used–_not_ the opposite.

Naruto snuggled into the seat easily. It was too comfortable to actually be comfortable. The swing set she remembered was squeaky and the waxy coating surrounding the chains were worn off, sometimes pinching her skin.

The Kyubi holder looked up the sky and squinted. In her Academy days, the sun was blocked by an ancient, ginormous oak. She looked behind her left. Inside, a large plot stood a minuscule sapling by size.

It was different–very different. She had never taken her kids for granted as much as she did now. Her loneliness made her think to herself, and sometimes those thoughts lead to a deep understanding of how things really were.

Naruto hooded her eyes in dishearten. This world she was now living in was foreign to her. Distracted by the kids and finding company in her mother blinded her of what she got herself into.

Looking at the people around when she would take trips to the supermarket, she didn't recognize anyone. At least, when there was war in her world, she was always with the ones she loved.

All her aspirations, dreams, and seemingly unbreakable bonds were of no more existence. She glanced at the Hokage monument and swallowed a lump in her throat.

Her lips tightened to the point of becoming completely colorless. She sighed for the umpteenth time and her posture sunk down low. Naruto didn't even know how to speak to Jiraiya normally two days back and he was considered her father. Tsunade, she sighed, was a complete stranger. The Sandaime didn't even trust her.

At times like these, she felt insignificant.

Pained, she closed her eyes. Now that the kids were gone, Naruto didn't know just who to consult to anymore. The Ame orphans and Naruto were very similar. They were both foreign and suffered losses that led them to Konoha. Maybe that was the reason they'd been close–they didn't have anyone until they had each other.

"Naruto?"

The blond's head shot up at the call of her name. Eye bright and heart beating erratically, she felt embarrassed. Naruto didn't want to get caught in such a vulnerable state.

"Naruto?" Again, her name was called.

The said blond finally calmed herself down, finding herself looking into dark eyes. Sakumo was crouching almost a foot in front of her. His look of concern comforted Naruto. She knitted her eyebrows and exhaled slowly, a look of relief in her demeanor.

"Sakumo, what are you doing here?" She sat up straighter, rising to the eye level of the man in front of her.

Sakumo's eyes grew tender, seeing how obvious the blond across him looked. "It's already two in the afternoon. I'm here to pick Kashi up."

The jounin analyzed the blond with worry. Of all the times he saw Naruto, she had never been in a state like this. It made him feel the need to comfort her, for she had always been the one to comfort him upon Kakashi's behavior.

He stood up, already coming up with a solution. "C'mon, Naruto. How bout this time I help you. We could talk over it after I pick Kashi up." The silver haired shinobi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "We could all get ramen?"

Naruto looked at him and her heart burned. The corners of her lips slowly drew upwards. Her brows knitted slightly and she also stood up. That's right, she remembered, even with the kids gone she would always have Sakumo.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S** **NOTE:** As you guys could see, I've portrayed more emotion in this chapter, towards the Sannin and especially towards Naruto. If you guys did not like how downhearted Naruto was in this chapter and how she seemed as if she was sulking too much, try to put yourself in her shoes. She is in an unknown world where no one truly knows her. Practically, Naruto has no one but the Ame orphans. To take away the Ame orphans from her would mean to go back into an empty house. It would be like pre-Naruto era all over again. It is only natural she starts being more perspective about her reality. Going back into the past will mean essentially giving everything up. Naruto's friends would be no more and her dream of ever being acknowledged and being Hokage will come to pass. However, the only thing keeping her sane is Sakumo because although Kurama was still within her, he is still at rest.

Anyways, this chapter was a bit lighthearted for me to write because it would mean to build the bridge into Naruto and Sakumo's relationship. The next chapter, as most of you probably predicted, is Sakumo and Naruto's outing to ramen. Expect the coming chapters to begin another arc of adventure and romance. Until the next chapter.


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